


Malfoy's Magical Menagerie

by muse_in_absentia, Tpants



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Magic, Birds, Cuddling, Families of Choice, Fire, Hopeful Ending, Lots of Cuddling, M/M, Touch-Starved, Wolfstar Big Bang 2019, injuries, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 16:27:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18920743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muse_in_absentia/pseuds/muse_in_absentia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tpants/pseuds/Tpants
Summary: When things aren't always as they seem, sometimes what they are can be far more trouble than anyone bargained for.  And so much better.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, I need to thank my partner in crime, [Tpants](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tpants/pseuds/Tpants), for the best inspiration ever! And for being so amazing to work with. <3
> 
> I also need to desperately thank my beta [Starstruck4Moony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starstruck4Moony/pseuds/Starstruck4Moony). This wouldn't be the same without you.
> 
> Also for the entire discord for all the help, cheerleading, and general insanity. You guys are amazing.
> 
> And finally, the art that inspired this piece!  
> 

The crackle of the dying fire was a muffled popping noise through the threadbare blanket seven-year-old Remus had pulled over his head. Embers glowed a violent red kissed through with charcoal black, and emanated very little heat to cut through the bone chill that encased the small, one room hut.

Outside the snow was falling for the fifth straight day, only muffled by the overhanging trees that surrounded the little shelter that Remus and his father had holed up in when the snows had started. There didn’t seem to be any indication that they were letting up any time soon, and Remus was starting to fear that they wouldn’t be able to dig their way out after another day or two.

They had been trying to keep the doorway cleared, shoveling the snow out with bits of broken pots and pans that had been left to rust by the former occupant of the hut, but the snow on the far side had slowly crept over the edge of the window, a ghost peering in and waiting for them to freeze. The stores of firewood were running low.

Shivering, Remus pulled the blanket tighter; stiff, chubby fingers, still in the midst of losing their baby fat, slipped off the edges of the cotton twice before he finally gave up and curled up tighter. His father’s oversized jumper was tucked over his knees, tugged down to his ankles, dark green cotton starting to unspool at the edges. Bare wood dug into his joints, rail-thin limbs sharply jutting into the planks until bruises bloomed purple-blue just beneath the skin. Winter flowers burrowing deep into his sinew and taking root until spring.

The Northern cities were inhospitable to any Southern migrants without a winter work permit, which Remus and his father did not possess. To be caught was a likely prison sentence for both of them, and the little hunter’s hutch they had found, while remote enough to offer some safety, was not built for weathering out the cold.

They had been looking for someplace to suffer out the season when they realized that they were going to miss the last travel date to cross back into the South. The borders were being closed earlier each season, trying to protect against raids from the starving people in the South who knew that there was food just across the border. When they found the little hut, it was just in time as the first snow started to fall. This was now the third such storm in a matter of weeks, and Remus was starting to believe they would never move on again.

Remus had broken his ankle at the beginning of the dusty season, recklessly trying to climb a pear tree for the last fruits hanging on the highest, slimmest branches and it had slowed them down to the point that reaching the border gates had been an impossibility. Even at seven Remus knew it was his fault that they were freezing now; hungry and hiding in their stolen hunter's hut with no heat, thin walls and snow piling up on the inside of the windowsills like the dust of winters past. His father would never say it, may not even think it, but Remus felt it every time he shivered so hard his bones ached and his jaw locked up, teeth grinding together until his neck hurt all the way down his spine and he walked like he was seventy instead of seven.

Every year saw Remus and his father travelling North, to the cold country, where the rich could afford insulation and warm clothes, and it wasn’t so hot and dry that nothing grew. The jobs were more plentiful up North, or so his father said every year when they started their trek back again. And every year saw them leaving later and later, trying to earn those last few coins, before heading back South to ride out the winter. This year they hadn’t made it, and Remus was certain it was because he couldn’t walk as fast as he always could the years before. He would never say that to his father, though, for fear of having his father agree with him, so he just held it inside, poking it any time he was too cold, or his stomach growled, reminding himself not to complain when it was his own fault.

Inching his way closer to where the fire was barely smoldering, a hazy, suffocating cloud of soot hanging lowly over the room where he was curled in the pocket of air below it, Remus tried to hold his hands as close to the embers as he dared hoping to gain enough feeling back into them that he could properly hold the blanket closed around him.

Laying against the edge of the firepit his shivering slowed so that he could feel the muscle cramps just barely easing. All he wanted was to sleep for a while and forget that he was cold and hungry, but he knew it was the insidious kind of sleep, that lulled you into a calm before you froze, so he held his eyes open.

He was just starting to lose the battle to stay awake, however, when the door creaked open and the wind snapped inside, the air condensing as it swirled around the room nearly guttering the fire out entirely. His father blew in with it, frost forming in the edges of his hair and at the corners of his mouth where his breath had frozen. The edges of his jacket hood were frayed and the threads that were hanging in his face were frozen to his hair, frozen tendrils worming their way inside.

Blinking blearily, Remus heard more than saw his father stamp his feet to knock the clinging ice off at the door, the floorboards rumbling with each heavy footfall.

They didn’t speak, it was too cold and they were too hungry to have any extra energy to expend, but Remus watched through heavy-lidded eyes as his father put the last few pieces of wood onto the fire. Soon they would have to try and break apart the heavy bed to keep the fire burning for a while longer. It wasn’t as if it had a mattress anyway, probably sacrificed long ago to the firepit for the last person who tried to survive the winter there.

There were trees outside, heavy evergreens weighted down with wet snow as well as barren deciduous trees, stark and boney against the pale sky. On days when the wind was milder, and the snow was clinging to the clouds making the sky a flat white sheet of imminent precipitation, Remus would sometimes go out and gather loose branches and twigs for the fire. They didn’t have any sort of axe, however, so chopping down anything larger than what he could snap off wasn’t possible, and they were running out of loose limbs.

Once the fire had been coaxed into a small crackle of flames, sputtering and hissing, but maintaining itself, Remus felt a small package land in his lap. Unfurling from his fetal position, he found a small bag of dried apples and nuts almost the size of his fist. It was a small feast, and Remus felt his stomach clench just looking at it, but he didn’t open the bag. He knew from experience he could go at least two more days before he truly needed to eat, so he stuffed the bag into his trousers pocket and the curled himself back up into a ball under the blanket, and closed his eyes, trying to get as close to the flames as he could without scorching himself now that they were crackling a little bit more forcefully.

When he opened his eyes again, his hip so stiff from digging into the hardwood floor that he yelped out loud trying to unfurl himself; his father was nowhere to be seen, but the fire was freshly stoked and Remus had an extra blanket draped over him that he didn’t recognize. As Remus watched the dancing flames, holding out his small hands to try and feel his fingers again, he saw, at the heart of the fire, curling words, peeling off the spine of a book. He recognized the book as the one his father had been carrying with them everywhere they travelled. The one that his father had shown him as a small boy, fingers tracing lovingly over the illustrations. The only thing his father had left of his own mother and the only possession his father had ever truly cared about. Burning as kindling to keep them alive a few days longer.

As he watched _Celestial Birds_ smoldered and curled until he could no longer make out the words, and he fell back to sleep, dreaming of fantastical plumage and soaring through the skies.

When Remus woke up in the morning, rubbing the half-frozen sand out of his eyes, the fire had gone out and his father was nowhere to be seen. There was a small coin purse next to Remus’ head and two more small bags of dried fruit, all wrapped up in the jacket his father had been wearing the last time Remus saw him.

His father never came back.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twenty-Two years later, Remus and his friends travel North again.

The Guard’s hut at the bridge seemed so much smaller than Remus remembered. The distortions of time and age on memory. Gideon, Fabian and Lily were marching towards the little wooden building, bedraggled and dusty; thin and warn from the road. Remus’ feet had stopped listening to him, and quickly his friends were ten meters in front of him. Twenty. 

He hadn’t been this way in twenty-two years, and he could very abruptly feel the weight of every single one of those years coming to bear on him until he felt like the only direction he could go was backwards. Back South. Back through time. There was no moving forward untethered and he couldn’t breathe. 

Suddenly Gideon spun around and detached himself from his brother, skipping back towards Remus with an energy that seemed exorbitant while Remus watched, more exhausted just from looking at him. 

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Gideon grinned at him, keeping the smile in place while he grabbed hold of Remus’ hand, either not noticing or not letting on that Remus’ hand was shaking. “And almost back to the others,” he added lowly, so the guards couldn’t hear. Sound traveled quickly through the empty space around them, flat grounds and no buildings besides the Guard’s hut left no corners for speech to hide in. 

“If the others made it through,” Remus answered, just as quiet, voicing for the first time since the decision to come North had been made just how worried he was about it. 

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Gideon said, dragging Remus forward until they caught up with the others. 

Lily smacked him on the arm, but said nothing. Fabian just rummaged through his rucksack until he found the work papers Remus had carefully forged for them. They proclaimed that Gideon and Fabian were twins, which was true enough, but Lily was marked as their younger sister, and Remus as her husband, none of which could have been further from the truth. But it was a known fact that ties were more likely to get groups through the border checkpoint than proximity alone would. It was the same reason that the papers for the other half of their group claimed that Kingsley and Caradoc were brothers, and Marlene and Dorcas were their spouses. Lies upon lies just for the chance to try and survive. 

In the end, though, getting through was anticlimactic. 

The small Guard hut had no door, and as they approached a young man with narrowed eyes and a gun on his hip stepped out into the early morning sun. His clothes were crisp and clean even this far South, and his hair was close cropped and well groomed. A sure sign that he was Northern born, that resources could be spared for grooming. 

It was still early, both in the day and in the season, and his clothes hadn’t started to wilt from the heat, so he looked sharp, like Remus was going to cut himself on the Guard’s edges and all their lies would come spilling out of the wound. He took a deep breath and held it. 

“Papers,” the Guard growled, blinking heavily in the sun. 

Fabian handed him the small stack of faded papers, singed at the edges, soaked in watery tea, and crinkled up to make them look more worn. After barely a glance they were handed back. 

“Go on through. If you’re looking for a place to stay there’s a hostel about a half day’s walk west from here. Just follow the river and you can’t miss it.” The Guard waved a hand down the riverbank, just on the far side of the gate cordoning off the bridge, as if they could get lost in the vast nothingness that surrounded them while heading west. 

“We’ll keep that in mind, thank you.” Remus was proud that he managed to keep his voice level. His friends must have sensed something, though, because Lily came over and took his hand, looking up at him as if they were really married; sweet smile, bright eyes, grip that could crack bones. 

“It’s early yet, love, let’s see if we can’t make that hostel by midday, come on.” 

Remus let himself be dragged away, tumbling along the riverbank until the guards were out of sight, which took much longer than anyone had hoped when there was nothing to obscure them from view. More than an hour of trudging along and Lily finally dropped his arm. They continued on silently until they hit the first large bend in the river then stopped. Remus looked at what they were considering a bend and silently hoped that their friends that had gone through the border the day before had interpreted the topography the same as he was now, or they would never meet back up again. 

There was nothing else around to use as land markers. Nothing but still dry grass, brown and crumbling from the lack of rains during the winter, which would grow lush and green for a few weeks before browning again in the summer heat this far South. A few more days walk North and perhaps they would start to encounter real greenery, possibly even some wild berry bushes or fruit trees. Vegetables were harder, those never grew wild, and security on greenhouses was much tighter the farther North they went. 

And they wouldn’t encounter any of those, let alone anything resembling a city, for at least a few more days travel. Perhaps the odd cabin or hut, but no one wanted to live that close to the border if they could at all help it. The risk of raids was too high for any but the poorest Northerners to risk. 

“What was that about?” Fabian asked, tossing a piece of thread from his jacket into the water to see how fast it was moving and if maybe they could refill their water bottles here. “You almost gave us away by glare alone, there, Remus.” 

“I’ve heard about those places,” Remus hissed, tossing his bag on the ground and sinking down on it. He had been out of food for three days, so there was nothing left in it to hurt. “They put them in remote areas away from the cities so the Northerners don’t have to see the people coming from the South. They’re too far away from any of the real jobs, and they charge you for everything, until you end up working for them to pay off your debts.” Remus swiped a hand across his face. “The fact that the Border Guards are so brazenly sending Southerners there is alarming. Things must have gotten worse up here than I remember them being.” 

“I hope none of the others decided to head that way,” Gideon said softly, kindly not mentioning that it had been more than two decades since Remus had been North, and that probably a lot more had changed than he would even recognize. 

“No chance,” Lily replied, dropping down next to Remus and digging through her pack, pulling out her empty water bottle and a couple of pieces of dried apple that she had left. She held one out to Remus, but he shook his head. It was his own fault that he ran out early, and he wasn’t about to take food away from someone else because of it. “There is no way Kingsley will let the others deviate from the plan,” she added, before putting her bag back together. “How’s the water, Fabian?” 

“It’s moving, but it's moving South, sadly,” he said, coming back from the water's edge and dropping down to the ground with the rest of them. “There’s refuse littering every pocket of still water. We’re going to have to look elsewhere.” 

Gideon sighed. “What are the chances we’re going to find clean water heading North if it’s all washed this far South?” 

“Very slim until we get closer to a city. Any city. I’ve heard they cart their refuse South before dumping it in the rivers so they, at least, can still have clean water.” Remus tugged his pack out from underneath himself and dug through it for his own water bottle, checking its contents. It sloshed a little, maybe a few mouthfuls left at the bottom. He put it back without drinking any, then flopped backwards until he was laying on the dusty ground, bag beneath his head, staring at the still lightening sky rather than the unrelenting brown of their surroundings. Dust and dead grass broken only by the swath of river didn’t do much to improve his mood. 

“Do we know which direction they went?” Fabian asked, laying down beside Remus and nudging him with his shoulder. 

“Give me five and I’ll go look for the markers Caradoc said he’d leave for us,” Remus replied, stretching and nudging Fabian back. Once upon a time they had considered being lovers, but in the end neither of them had wanted it enough to fight the lack of privacy. Remus was grateful that instead of making things awkward, however, it had left them strangely close, which helped alleviate some of the overwhelming loneliness that often permeated large groups that were as codependent as theirs was, but had no reprieve from each other. 

“That’s okay, I’m on it,” Lily said, slowly leveraging herself up off the ground again. “If I stay down there for much longer I won’t start moving again today.” 

Gideon sat down on Remus’ other side and kicked his shin, reaching over him to smack Fabian across the head. “Come on, you two, we don’t have time for you to be lazy sods with each other.” 

“Okay, dad,” Fabian groaned, swatting at Gideon and catching Remus in the crossfire. 

“That’s it,” Remus grumbled. “I just wanted to catch my breath for a couple of minutes, but if you’re going to wrestle on top of me I guess I have to move.” Sitting up, Remus shuffled sideways and back, like he was trying to get out of the way of the Prewett’s impromptu wrestling match, but rather than get up, he threw himself on top of the pile, taking them both down.” 

“That’s cheating!” Fabian squawked from the bottom of the pile, arms flailing but unable to hit anything. 

“Looked like fair play to me,” Lily laughed, before flinging herself on Remus, effectively squashing the wrestling match, until she reached out and started tickling Gideon, who nearly flung everyone in an attempt to get away from her. 

“Okay, okay,” Gideon choked, breathing heavily and still trying to wriggle out from under the pile. “I get it, I was being responsible, which is clearly not allowed around here.” 

“No, it’s not. Not unless it’s required, and even then, it’s discouraged,” Lily grinned, climbing off the top of everyone and holding out a hand to help pull Gideon to his feet. He clasped her hand, accepting what Remus saw as a Lily-offered truce, and let himself be hauled up. “Oh, and I found the markers,” Lily added, scrubbing a hand through the tangled mess of bright red hair, dulled by weeks of caked on dust until it shone a burnished bronze-rust color that made Remus think of dried blood, which was never a thought he wanted to have about his friends, but couldn’t always shake. 

It was a constant fear hiding out, skulking at the back of his thoughts until it jumped out leaving him with nightmares, anxious days until he forced it back again. The fear that this time would be the time something went wrong. Food was too scarce. Water was almost non-existent. The guards would encourage them to move along just a little too forcefully. It had nearly happened a handful of times, and Remus knew that the only reason no one had died yet was that they had gotten lucky. 

“It looks like Marlene was the one to leave them, though, because I can actually read them this time,” Lily was continuing, dragging Remus back out of his head, pervasive worries leaving bloody trails into the present, clawing their way up from the dredges of his mind, and he had to shake his head to leave them there. 

“Does that mean you know where we’re going?” Remus asked, blinking a couple of times and then forcing himself to clamber up off the ground, scooping his bag up as he went and slinging it on his back. 

“For now,” Lily answered, grabbing her own bag and then throwing Gideon’s at him while he continued tussling with Fabian. It hit him in the shins and he stumbled back, only staying on his feet because Fabian grabbed his shoulder. Lily flashed a small grin, and ducked her head, but didn’t apologize. Gideon flipped her off in return. 

The sun was finishing coming up, and Remus watched the last of the pink fade out of the horizon, knowing that if they had stayed South it would already be unbearably hot. He fought the urge to dunk his shirt in the river and tie it over his head. There was just enough chill in the air to promise that to be an act unnecessary for at least a few more weeks. 

“Are we leaving the river?” Fabian asked, a vague echo of Remus’ thoughts, just enough that he briefly wondered if he had said them out loud. Fabian wasn’t looking at Remus at all, though, and Remus just shook his head, trying to keep himself present, which was always hard the farther he got from the last time he ate. 

“Yeah, they went North almost immediately,” Lily said, frowning. “Why?” 

“Because we might not be able to drink it, but I could do with a wash, and I think the rest of you probably could as well,” Fabian replied, stripping his shirt off without waiting for an answer. 

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, just let's all be quick about it, because the others are waiting.” 

“Killjoy,” Lily murmured before stripping off her own clothes and flinging herself into the rushing water. 

“Are you coming?” Gideon asked, stripping slower than the others, waiting next to Remus expectantly. 

“I suppose if we’re staying anyway, I might as well,” Remus shrugged, dropping his back again and slowly peeling off his clothes, callouses skimming over the myriad of scars he had earned over the years, his last run in with the Guard still fresh across his left shoulder and bicep. The gouge was still an angry red, and was caked over in grime. Remus scratched a fingernail across it lightly, wincing when it flared up in pain. He allowed that perhaps Fabian had been right, and a wash wasn’t a terrible idea. 

The other were all tumbling about in the water, splashing and trying to keep warm, a collection of rare roses, all three red, while Remus was left feeling like a weed beside them. He let his gaze linger for just a moment, aware that just because he and Fabian had decided not to try it that didn’t mean he didn’t still find Fabian attractive, distinguishable from Gideon by the stick and poke tattoo on his shoulder that he had let Caradoc do a few years back. A heated shard of glass and charcoal ink had left a hazy impression letters that Remus only knew spelled out their older sister’s name – married young and staying behind because travelling with kids was almost impossible if you had any other choices – because he asked. 

Forcing himself to look away, Remus trudged into the river, letting the dingy water rush past his ankles. 

The water was still frigid, and he was inching his way into it as slowly as he could manage. He had barely made it to his knees, however, when he felt hands on his shoulders. 

“Don’t you da-” He tumbled into the water, and came up spluttering and spitting out gritty water, shivering and coughing. “Berk,” he mumbled, then dunked himself back under the water so he didn’t have to hear the answer. He was already freezing, might as well get this over with. 

None of them had any soap, so Remus simply rinsed off as best as he could, spending extra time on the still angry wound on his arm, which only left it angrier looking, red and swollen. It had been nearly two weeks since he had been sliced with a Guard’s knife, and he was starting to wonder if maybe he should have Lily take a look at it again. Infection didn’t seem too far of a stretch anymore. 

He was the first out of the water, shaking from the cold, while the others splashed at each other and arsed about for a few minutes longer. It was rare that they encountered water clean enough to climb in, so he didn’t begrudge them the chance. 

With no towels, or any clothes he was willing to sacrifice for the sake of getting dry, Remus just stood on the shore waiting until the air dried him out enough he was able to pull his clothes back on, the dust that still lingered in them clinging to his damp skin and leaving streaks of mud that would dry later and flake off, leaving him stained brown again. 

He was just buttoning his shirt when the others climbed out of the water and joined him, pulling their clothes on still soaking wet, ignoring how they soaked through immediately. 

Pulling Lily aside, once she was dressed, Remus whispered, “When we stop for the night would you please look at my arm again? I think it might be infected.” 

“Bugger,” she hissed, frowning at his shoulder like she could see it through his shirt. “I’ll look, but if it _is_ infected I’m not sure what I can do for it. We ran out of balm last month when Caradoc took that gash to the leg. Maybe we can trade for some when we reach Higher Green.” 

Remus just nodded and shouldered his pack, ignoring the way that his shoulder burned now that it was clean and exposed to the air and the abrasion of his shirt. 

“What are you two on about back there?” Fabian called, grinning over his shoulder at Remus and Lily. “Weren’t you the one advocating for speed, Remus?” 

Remus just flipped him off and sped up his step until he had caught up, Lily only a few paces behind until they were all trudging Northward as a group again. 

It was only a few kilometers before they were slowing down, having forgotten to pace themselves after the exhilaration of bathing for the first time in weeks, and Gideon was the first to crack, pulling up short and leaning on his knees, breathing very deliberately timed breaths. 

“Has anyone seen any signs of the next marker? Are we sure we haven’t missed it somewhere?” 

“The last one said tree,” Lily shrugged. “We haven’t seen a single one of those yet. I can imagine we haven’t missed it yet.” 

Fabian groaned. “They left a marker that said tree in this climate? Where did they expect to find one of those?” 

Remus snorted before he could help himself. “Probably at about the same place as the city gates, sadly. Maybe they’ve rethought and left another one?” 

“It would have to be pretty obvious, if they were going to change the plan in the middle,” Lily said, frowning and looking around like a marker was going to just jump off the ground at them any second. 

“We should probably keep moving,” Remus sighed, tired of having to be the voice of reason simply because no one else was willing. He wanted a break, too. But the rest of their group was waiting for them, and he didn’t want to disappoint them by taking too long. Once they were all back together someone else could have the job. “If we stop for too long none of us will want to move again, and we already stopped too long this morning.” 

“Where did the fun Remus go?” Fabian grumbled, nudging Remus’ shoulder with his own. Remus tried not to wince as he brushed against the gash in his arm, but Lily noticed anyway and frowned at him. 

“I guess we forgot him at the border,” Remus quipped, shoving Fabian gently away and marching forward again, hoping the rest of them would trail behind. 

The sun was high, nearing midday, when they finally spotted the tree. The only tree. From there it was only a few more kilometers until they found the rest of their friends lounging by a massive boulder that was providing some shade. 

“Took you long enough,” Caradoc grumbled almost before they had even gotten to where the rest of them were waiting, grinning at Fabian and Gideon in a way that made Remus glad he and Fabian had never tried anything. He wouldn’t want to compete with Caradoc for something he barely wanted. Caradoc’s easy smile and broad shoulders would win out any time, and Remus didn’t really feel like facing that reminder when he had the choice to avoid it. 

Lily slipped an arm around his waist as they all dropped their bags almost as one unit, and shook her head at him, eyeing the way Caradoc sidled up to Fabian as soon as he had stopped moving. Remus squeezed her arm and then looked away. There wasn’t much privacy on the road, but he liked to offer it whenever he could. 

“Would you like me to take a look at your arm now?” she asked, tugging him into the shade by the one remaining belt loop on his trousers that hadn’t ripped off over the months of wear. 

“What’s wrong with his arm?” Kingsley asked, shifting over so that Remus could sit next to him. 

“I think it’s infected,” Remus shrugged, dropping down and leaning his head against Kingsley’s arm for a minute while Lily tried to forcefully roll his sleeve up. 

“That’s not going to work, Lily,” Kingsley laughed. “Give the man a minute and I’m sure he’d be happy to strip for you.” 

“If he isn’t, we are,” Marlene called from where she was curled up in Dorcas’ lap, Dorcas playing with her recently shorn hair. 

“Oh, behave you two,” Lily laughed, shaking her head, but also losing some of the tension from her shoulders that she had been carrying since they left the river that morning. 

Remus flashed a smile at the other girls in thanks, and Dorcas winked at him. Turning back, Remus found Lily glaring at him, so he groaned and began unbuttoning his shirt, ignoring the twin whistles from Fabian and Caradoc. 

He knew it was bad as soon as he peeled the shirt off and Lily drew in a sharp breath that had the entire group going still. 

“We need to find some infection balm immediately,” she said, poking the skin around the wound gently. 

“Well then we should get moving,” Kingsley said, shifting himself out from beside Remus and standing, glaring around at everyone until they all started moving. 

Remus hastily pulled his shirt back on, flushing slightly from everyone staring at him with worry on their faces like his arm was just going to drop off if they didn’t fix it immediately. 

“Okay, guys, I’m fine, really,” he grumbled, shoving buttons through button-holes and trying not to catch anyone’s eyes. 

“You’re really not,” Lily hissed, and Remus just glared at her, hoping that no one else heard. 

The way that Kingsley grabbed his shoulder briefly dispelled that hope rather quickly, but at least he didn’t say anything more, just herded the group of them back onto the road, heading back east, the way they came. 

“Wait, why are we going backwards?” Caradoc asked, after barely a kilometer of walking. 

“Because Lower Green is closer than the original goal of Higher Green and if we need to get our hands on some infection balm we should probably start there. If we have to, we can move on for work later,” Kingsley said, voice firm, daring any of the others to question him, but mostly glaring at Remus. 

Since Remus had been about to object that they didn’t need to go days out of their way just for him, he settled for glaring back, then dipping his head in thanks. Everyone else remained silent around them, and they walked for the better part of the day, mostly quiet, the rising sun slowly heating them all up until talking was more energy than it was worth. 

They stopped only once, to divvy up the last of the food and water, and although Remus tried to refuse any food as he had none to contribute, Lily and Kingsley bullied him into taking his portion anyway. A few mouthfuls of dried fruit and nuts was almost like a feast, and Remus was feeling even guiltier when they got moving again, starting to feel like he was dragging the rest of them down. Stealing food, redirecting the entire group. 

He only realized he was starting to mope when Fabian slipped back towards the back of the group and wrapped an arm around Remus’ shoulders, both of them stumbling as they tried to walk tangled together and couldn’t get their steps in sync. 

“This is never this hard with Gideon,” Fabian groused, tugging on Remus until they nearly toppled over. 

“That’s because he isn’t nearly fifteen centimeters taller than you. The two of you are tiny,” Remus laughed, and then startled. He hadn’t expected to be able to laugh that easily. 

“Hey, there you are,” Fabian grinned. “I was beginning to think you were going to sulk all day. I know you were against coming North, but it _was_ a good idea.” 

“I know,” Remus said, and let it drop. He hadn’t told any of the others about the last time he had been North beyond the fact that he had been there before, and he wasn’t about to now. He barely remembered anything about that time, except waking up alone, freezing, starving, and certain he was going to die. It wasn’t the sort of memory you dredged up unless you had to, and so far, he hadn’t had to, and he was determined to do his best to keep it that way. 

The sun was starting to set when Remus decided that enough was enough. “We should start looking for someplace to camp for the night.” 

“I see a mountain maybe another hour’s walk,” Marlene said, scrambling up on Dorcas' shoulders and nearly taking them both down. “Maybe it’s got a cave system, or at least a deep overhang we can use.” 

“Also, I think I see lights,” Caradoc added, squinting in the direction of the looming mountain that they had all been avoiding discussing until then, for fear that they couldn’t reach it in one day. Parts of the mountain were even green, which was something Remus had been sure he would never see again in his lifetime, an abundance of vegetation such that from a distance the land looked lush and alive. 

“A mountain would certainly make Lower Green more defensible,” Kingsley shrugged. “Let’s just hope it’s not so close that we lose use of any shelter the mountain might provide.” 

That sobered everyone up quickly, and they started moving again, trudging forwards until the sun was nearly set and they were stumbling from exhaustion, but suddenly they were tripping over more than their own feet. There was rubble and fallen debris from the sheer rock face that had been deceptively farther away than they had anticipated when they decided to push on. 

“Cave!” Dorcas practically shouted, leaning on Marlene’s shoulder, her hand in Marlene’s back pocket in a display of casual intimacy that Remus shied away under the pretense of giving them some privacy, and refusing to look any deeper than that for fear that he’d find that he was jealous, which wasn’t a thing he was ready to face. 

Intimacy was too rare a thing to wish for when you spent your life transient, sleeping in the dirt and dust, hoping for a bite of food now and again. 

“And lights,” Lily added, quieter. 

“We should rest for an hour or two and then go check it out,” Fabian said, glancing between Lily and Kingsley and intentionally avoiding looking at Remus. 

Remus bristled a little at being talked over like he didn’t have any autonomy over his own injury, but he tamped it down, reminding himself that it was because his friends cared, not because they didn’t trust him. 

“We should,” Lily agreed. When Kingsley nodded it was agreed, they would rest, and then head in the direction of the lights. 

Nearly three hours later, when the moon was a sliver high in the sky, and they had all recovered from walking all day, they set out, leaving Marlene and Dorcas behind. 

“We’ll watch the supplies,” Dorcas had said with a grin and her fingers already in Marlene’s hair. Remus wasn’t sure how much watching they’d be able to do naked at the back of the cave, but he didn’t begrudge them the alone time, so he kept his mouth shut. 

It was apparent rather quickly that the lights weren’t coming from inside the city limits. The wall along the river’s edge contained the dim, flickering lights nearly as well as it kept drifters, grifters, and other travelers out without a pass. The only way in was a lone bridge with a security checkpoint on the far side. 

“We’ll have to see if it’s worth forging papers to get across,” Kingsley muttered to Remus as they passed the bridge, keeping to the shadows as much as they could so the guard couldn’t see them and chase them away later. 

“This far South, it’s unlikely. We aren’t even to Lower Green yet, this place is probably no more than a waystation city,” Remus shrugged, turning instead towards the strange enclosure on their side of the river, walls as high as the city, but lights bright enough to illuminate the entire surrounding area. 

“It looks larger than a waystation city,” Kingsley answered, frowning. “In fact, it looks properly posh, if the gate is anything to go by. I wonder what it’s doing this far South.” 

“I wonder what that is,” Caradoc frowned, pointing at the enclosed grounds outside the city, proving he hadn’t heard any of Remus and Kingsley’s discussion. They all stopped, trying to figure out if it was worth approaching the wall. 

“Malfoy’s Magical Menagerie?” Gideon read, making it a question as he squinted through the deep gloom in the direction of the large sign outside a heavy iron gate. 

“That sounds like someplace that might have some infection balm we could steal,” Lily said softly, staring at the wall with determined eyes, her mouth a flat line, her hands shaking just a little. 

“Tomorrow night,” Remus said. 

“I’m not sure you can wait that long,” Lily replied, terse. 

“I’m going to have to. If we try and break in this exhausted we’ll be caught almost immediately,” Remus insisted, trying to sound as sure as he could, and not show any signs of pain at all. “We go tomorrow or not at all.” 

Lily stared at him for a long moment and then finally nodded, nodding again at everyone else. “Tomorrow, after dark.”


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The discovery of Malfoy's Magical Menagerie, and Remus finally gets to meet Sirius.

There was a haze of smoke hanging around the cave, leaving the air sooty and heavy. Lily was trying to get them all moving, but Marlene had offered to stay behind with Kingsley, and she and Dorcas were saying goodbye, a lingering kiss finally breaking and breaking them apart, dust and ash coloring them both in shades of bronze and grey until they blended into one being with only a slim breadth of air between them. 

“Okay you two,” Lily sighed. “We’re only going to be gone a few hours. You can handle being separated for that long.” Remus only noticed that she sounded more wistful than upset because he felt it too, sometimes, watching them together. Not because either of them wanted to be a part of what Dorcas and Marlene had, but sometimes it was hard not to want the idea of it, that intangible _someone_ to cling to when there was nothing else to be had but another body against your own to stave off the cold and hunger. To barricade yourself against the fear of tomorrow not coming, and the even greater fear of it coming after all. 

“Give them a break, Lily,” Fabian sighed, leaning against Gideon, two red heads nearly knocking together. “It’s not as if there’s no risk in this, let them have their moment.” 

Remus frowned at them. They didn’t see what he did, because at least they had each other. He didn’t say anything, though. It wasn’t his to tell, even if he felt the same when the snows came and food dwindled to nothing and another body was the best way to keep warm. Sometimes he regretted not giving Fabian more of a chance, but seeing the way Caradoc looked at Fabian he knew that he couldn’t feel that way about him, so he couldn’t regret it too strongly. 

There was a rumbling murmur of agreement for Fabian’s words from everyone, buzzing and reverberating around the cave they were still all milling around in, waiting to set out. It was a large cave, set deep into the side of the mountain and they all fit comfortably, but Remus wasn’t used to having something over his head again, and the strange sense of claustrophobia that was settling under his skin wasn’t helped by the distorted way sounds bounced off the walls, seeming to come from all directions until you didn’t know which way you were facing anymore. 

Remus shivered slightly, the heat from the day not heavy enough to permeate as deep as they had settled down, and the damp cave was bordering on cold despite the small fire they had managed to start with scraggly bits of twigs and leaves that had tumbled down the mountain side. 

Finally, Caradoc took Dorcas’ arm and started leading her towards the mouth of the cave, dusky fingers leaving sooty fingerprints on her bare arm, standing out like char marks on her fair skin. The rest of them fell in step behind. 

The cave fell away behind them and Remus breathed a little easier out in the open air again, hoping that he would adjust to the cave and it wouldn’t become a problem. 

“How are you holding up?” Lily asked Remus quietly as they stepped out into the pale moonlight, faint wisps of clouds drifting across the stars making them flicker and dance at the tops of Remus’ vision as he stared down at the ground, watching as the dust kicked up with every step, thankfully not so dry yet as to leave tracks. The edges of Lily’s once yellow shirt were flitting in and out of the edges of his line of sight, like a dingy shadow, but he wasn’t quite ready to face her with the truth, so he refused to face her at all. He knew she wasn’t asking about the tension he felt at being enclosed, and his shoulder wasn’t offering the answer he wanted to be able to give. 

“Same as yesterday,” he said, hoping to both ease her worry and not completely lie to her, since she was the only one of them with any healing training at all, and a lie wouldn’t help him heal any. It wasn’t entirely the truth, either though, as the pain was now radiating down nearly to his elbow, a strange burning pinch that was leaving his arm feeling weakened in a way that had him starting to worry finally. He wasn’t about to say any of that out loud, though. His friends were worrying enough as it was, and either they would find some infection balm or they wouldn’t. 

She didn’t reply, just walked on, taking his hand and squeezing, seemingly able to read some of what he was thinking in the tone of his voice. Remus never had been very good at concealing his thoughts from his friends. 

It wasn’t very far to the strange compound, and they all clustered together just outside the gate trying to make sense of the sign, mounted to what looked like cheap plaster walls, broken only by an iron gate.

**_MALFOY’S MAGICAL MENAGERIE_ **

**_Come see all the strange and wonderous animals we have on display_ **

**_Entrance fee: 50 Gold per person_ **

“They actually expect people to be able to pay that? That’s nearly two months' worth of good food! For all of us!” Caradoc spluttered, frowning at the sign, hand carved and hand painted, two large white animals with huge plumed feather tails painted on the edges of the sign. Ornate bookends. 

“Things really are different in the North, aren’t they?” Fabian said, dropping a hand on Caradoc’s arm, and Caradoc leaned into the touch instead of stewing in his agitation, which Remus assumed had been the point. 

The he got a closer look at the sign. “Moonglow Peacocks?” he whispered to himself, transfixed by the sight of the birds. 

“What?” Lily asked, frowning at him. 

Remus shook his head and caught her eyes. “They look like Moonglow Peacocks on the sign.” 

“How do you know that?” Dorcas asked, throwing a small rock at the gate to see if it tripped any sort of alarm. 

“I have no idea,” Remus answered, turning back to stare at the sign again. 

“Are you okay?” Lily asked again, this time reaching out and grabbing his good shoulder, spinning him to look her in the face. 

“Sure. Just something flickering up from the back of my memories. Nothing to concern yourself over.” 

Lily stared him down until Remus finally had to look away, not ready to dredge up the flickering things that were trying to crawl their way up to the front of his brain. 

“Really, Lily, it’s certainly nothing we need to deal with now. Let’s see if we can get inside and see what this place is about.” 

There were little lines forming at the edges of Lily’s eyes, but she let him sidle away from the question and redirect them to the task at hand. She was as aware as he was that distractions for something like this could prove fatal. 

“I don’t see any guards,” Gideon whispered, daring to reach out and brush a finger against the gate. When nothing happened he grabbed it, fingers curling gingerly around an iron bar while everyone watched. Remus was holding his breath, fingernails digging little holes in his palms, hoping that the gate wasn’t trapped in any way. They had stumbled across some insidious ones over the years, from hidden wires designed to slice a leg nearly in half at barely a touch to thin coatings of poison on gate handles and wall lips. That last one had nearly cost them Marlene a year back and none of them were ready to repeat the incident. 

After a long moment in which it felt as if no one breathed at all, Gideon let go and smiled faintly. The air around them nearly pulsed with the collective sigh, Fabian slinging an arm around his brother in what was meant to look like a casual congratulations, but they all knew to be more of a silent prayer of thanks. Remus glanced away, giving them the same moment of fabricated privacy that he would have given Dorcas and Marlene, or Fabian and Caradoc if they ever stopped dancing around each other. 

Inching closer to the walls surrounding the gate Remus noted, startled, that they weren’t weather treated plaster but were real cement, rough and porous, but solid. They seemed to butt directly against the edge of the river, which had circled back from where it had meandered at the border, and ran through the city outskirts, providing a second wall of protection along with the mountain they had commandeered as their own. 

“This place might be richer than Lower Green for all it’s farther South,” Remus muttered out loud. 

“You might be right,” Dorcas said, slipping up beside him and running her fingers over the cement. They came away slightly abraded, and she stuck one in her mouth, heedless of the grime on it. 

“We’re in,” Fabian called softly, pulling Remus out of his reverie. Fabian was unfurling from where he had been crouched in front of the gate, slipping a bit of wire back into his pocket. 

“We should probably go in one at a time,” Gideon said, putting a hand on Fabian’s chest when he tried to march right through the newly opened gate without so much as looking to make sure they weren’t being watched. 

“Okay, what are we looking for, Lily?” Dorcas asked, face serious as she gathered them all around to make sure they knew what they were looking for. 

“If it’s homemade it could look like anything,” Lily said with a sigh. “But we need anything with willow bark. It will smell a little bit similar to wintergreen, but that might be covered up by other ingredients, so bring me anything you find that looks even remotely useful and I’ll sort through it later, see what we can use. Any food, too. If they have actual live animals, beyond basic livestock, they have to be feeding them somehow.” 

They all stood there for a minute, gathering themselves, and Remus watched as each one of his friends settled themselves for what they were about to do. It was a process he had grown accustomed to, the number of times they had broken into storehouses and farms over the years. This was different, though, and they all knew it. 

A large venue meant only for entertainment for the very rich was a far cry from an angry farmer chasing them down for stealing a few potatoes. 

“I’ll go first,” Caradoc said, finally breaking the silence, then he didn’t wait for anyone to object, just turned and slipped through the gate, his dirt smudged clothes and dark skin nearly as good as camouflage in the barely there moonlight. 

They waited longer than anyone wanted to just stand there, letting Caradoc slowly make his way through the entrance and disappear, making his way down the furthest route to the left, as was protocol for searching larger areas. Whoever went through next would take the next closest path until they had fanned out across the entire area, clockwise. It was a system they had come up with after the first few raids when they had all been tripping over each other, missing crucial areas of potential supplies, and had nearly gotten caught. 

One by one they crawled inside, waiting shorter and shorter times between each person as the ones left outside grew impatient to get moving and get back to safety as quickly as possible. 

Remus was eventually left standing outside the gates alone, staring at the little rust flecks that had built up in the corners of the bars where they met the joining cross-bars, blood colored powder turned midnight blue black in the pale moonlight, and Remus stepped forward blowing it away just to see it flutter in the air. 

After what felt like long enough, but might have been double the time the others had taken, or possible half he couldn’t tell with nothing for company except the stars, Remus made his way through the gate. He flinched, waiting for a blow that never came, still half convinced that they were all going to be caught in a matter of minutes. When none came, however, he veered as far right as he could go and still be walking into the compound. 

The buildings were crowded too close together, and the windows were too high for Remus to look inside of. They all looked nearly identical in every way that mattered, except size. Cement walls and real glass windows, no waxed paper in sight, slim bars on all the windows and heavy iron doors on every building. 

He made his way slowly between them, looking for any building small enough that they might contain stores rather than displays. All the buildings he was encountering were large enough to house a couple dozen people, and he bristled a little at such a clearly ostentatious display of wealth. When so many had so little, whoever owned this place decided to use their obviously immense quantities of money to provide entertainment to the similarly wealthy instead of offering any level of help to those who might need it. 

A small flicker of light jumped at the corner of his eye, and he whirled around, pressing himself against the wall of one of the buildings, but it turned out just be a small crackling of leaves, flaring up and fizzling out quickly. He didn’t see any source of ignition, but he also didn’t see any people, so he kept moving, trying not to stay in one place too long. It could always have been the remnants of some display from when the place was open. He had no idea what sorts of shows they put on when the crowds were flitting through, wealthy visitors that were no more aware of the real world than the animals they were looking at. 

He passed by a few larger buildings that seemed slightly dingy upon closer inspection, but didn’t look secure enough to have any sort of medical supplies or food. There were no padlocks on the doors, or a rare, highly expensive digital lock. There didn’t even appear to be more than a basic bolt on any of the doors, and the bolts were on the outside, which struck Remus as strange. If you wanted to keep people out why would you put an easy slide bolt outside where it was easily accessible? 

Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Remus ghosted up to one of the smaller buildings, skipping past the one that he heard some sort of rumbling growl coming from, and threw the bolt, sidling inside and waiting until his eyes adjusted to the nearly complete lack of light. 

The windows let in a small amount of moonlight, filtered in too high, slanting angles and throwing shadows climbing up the walls and around the door that Remus slowly pulled closed behind him so any passing guards wouldn’t notice anything was wrong unless they checked the bolts closely. 

It took longer than he liked for his eyes to slowly start to focus on what was around him, and he stood stock still the entire time, just waiting for something to jump out at him, be it animal or guard. Because he was certain there had to be guards patrolling the grounds. You didn’t charge the sort of entrance fee that sign proclaimed without protecting your displays. 

Finally, however, he finally started to be able to see, and he was still alone. At least, he believed he was until he saw the closest cage, a large gilded thing, ornately scrolled and hanging precariously from a hook in a sturdy beam across the ceiling. 

The first thing Remus noticed was that he had seen smaller buildings than that cage. 

The second was that it contained a man. A very beautiful man, from what he could tell in the dark, with inky hair and long limbs that were curled around the rest of him as he dozed fitfully, tossing in a bed of straw. 

“But, you’re people!” he hissed, unable to contain himself, and then he shrank back as soon as he realized he had spoken out loud. Drawing attention to himself was the last thing that he wanted. 

The man in the cage sat up quickly, head snapping around until he focused in on Remus with eyes that were so pale that in the minimal moonlight they appeared nearly white, hands coming up to grip at the bars that held him prisoner. “You can see us?”


	4. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius meets everyone else.

“What do you mean, of course I can see you. You’re in a rather large cage staring at me,” Remus said, inching towards to cage, trying to keep his voice pitched low so any passing security wouldn’t hear him. Something strange was going on here, because Remus couldn’t understand why anyone would be that shocked to be seen, especially anyone as beautiful as this man was. 

He was certainly malnourished, too thin and sunken in all the wrong places, but so were most people that Remus had encountered. Skin that was too pale from being locked inside for far too long at least appeared healthy and smooth, and Remus was struck with the sudden urge to touch. 

Black hair whipped wildly back and forth as the man shook his head, standing up to his full height, which Remus was having a hard time guessing at since the cage wasn’t set on the floor, but appeared to be at least a few centimeters taller than himself. He was having to crane his neck slightly to catch the man’s eyes. “You can _see_ me,” he said back, hands still clutching at the bars, having slid up them as he stood, knuckles turning ghostly until Remus reached the edge of the cage and tentatively reached out, prying the man’s fingers loose before he hurt himself. 

The second their hands touched the other man gave a full body shudder and sagged against the bars, striped lines against his strangely opulent clothing, gossamer and purple and entirely incongruous with their setting. 

“Are you all right?” 

The hand the Remus hadn’t yet let go of was trembling slightly in his grasp, and the closer Remus looked the more it appeared that it wasn’t just his hand. 

“That,” he said slowly, fingers spasming with Remus’, “is the first human contact I’ve had in a long time. Years, probably. Decades, maybe. I’ve lost track of time in here.” 

“You’re a prisoner.” It wasn’t a question, and Remus slid his hand as far through the bars as he could, hesitating for a moment before brushing a finger against the other man’s cheek. He found it slightly damp, but he didn’t say anything more, just left his hand still while the other man gasped and pushed his face into Remus’ palm. 

“Sold,” was the only response he got, clipped, but not harsh. His fingers tangled in long hair, and he made no effort to remove them. 

“Well, then I guess I’m going to have to try and get you out of here.” 

Head snapping up, grey eyes found his, and Remus caught his breath at the look of desperate hope he saw there. “You would do that? For someone you’ve never met before?” 

“I would,” Remus answered with no hesitation, finding that he meant it. 

“Who _are_ you?” 

Remus knew it was stupid, he didn’t know this man at all. It could very easily be a trick. Someone planted there to catch intruders, or wayward guests, but Remus didn’t think anyone could fake the way the other man's eyes had lit up at even the suggestion of getting out of there, going from flat and lifeless to brilliant, two captured stars and Remus was falling into them quickly. Telling himself it was going to be all right, he took a deep breath and flashed the faintest of smiles. “Remus. My name is Remus.” 

“Very nice to meet you, Remus, my name is Sirius.” Remus was struck by the formality of the statement that was uttered into the palm of his hand as Sirius hadn’t moved away. 

“Sirius,” Remus breathed, nearly pressed against the bars himself, trying to offer any relief he could. 

“Remus!” It took a second for Remus to realize that the voice was coming from outside the building, and for a brief, wild moment he considered the idea that Sirius had somehow managed to get information to security outside. 

“Remus!” The voice called again, and this time, blinking his way out of his mental fog, Remus recognized it as belonging to Gideon, a tinge of panic raising his voice an octave as it congealed around the door and bogged down in the still air of the strange bubble Remus had found himself in with Sirius. 

“Yeah, I’m in here,” he called as loudly as he dared. There was some rustling from a couple of the other cages at the noise, but no other voices. 

“What are you doing?” Sirius hissed, still not letting go of Remus’ hand, but squeezing a little harder and tugging Remus closer, almost as if he wanted to protect him, despite being the one stuck in a cage. 

“Those are my friends,” Remus hissed just before the door swung open and Gideon tumbled inside, followed by the rest of his friends, and Remus had a sharp moment of panic that he had lost track of enough time that they had all managed to reconvene without him. 

“Remus,” Fabian drawled, sibilant and slow. “Why is there a giant bird nuzzling your hand?” 

“Bird?” Remus glanced back at Sirius who just shrugged and smiled. 

“That is what most people see when they’re in here. That’s why this is the aviary. Or did you miss the sign on your way in?” His tone was flippant, but Remus saw the way his eyes shuttered, so he left his hand where it was stroking Sirius’ cheek, but he did have to withdraw the one that Sirius was holding in his own hand so that he could turn to face his friends. 

Remus opened his mouth to tell Fabian that Sirius wasn’t a bird, but then he realized he would have to explain why there was a strange man nuzzling his hand, and that might be even harder. Especially with the way Caradoc had an arm slung around Fabian and Fabian was all but ignoring him to address Remus. Sighing, Remus caught Caradoc’s eye and tipped his head in Fabian’s direction, and Caradoc gave him a small, sad smile in reply. 

“I’ll explain later,” he finally settled on, slowly withdrawing his hand from the cage, with one last long look at Sirius. “For now, can one of you pick the lock on this cage? We’re taking him with us.” 

“I’m fairly sure that stealing a giant bird will get us caught rather quickly,” Dorcas said gently, walking up to Remus cautiously, and reaching out to take his hand and slowly try and pull him away from the cage. 

“I can’t leave him here,” Remus insisted, balking at the gentle tug on his arm, gently pulling his arm away. “I promised.” 

“It’s a bird, Remus, it doesn’t understand,” Lily said, voice a little sharp, taut and brittle, ready to snap at the slightest provocation. 

Her tone drew Remus’ attention away from Sirius, finally, and he saw that Lily and Caradoc both were laden down with jars and bottles, tucked into pockets and waist bands, smuggled away in as many places as they could shove them. He was suddenly reminded of the initial reason that they had broken in in the first place. Sirius had been so much of a distraction that he had temporarily forgotten. 

“It’s all right,” Sirius said, voice flat and drained, and when Remus turned back to him, he was already withdrawing. “You have to go, and I, apparently, have to stay.” 

“I promised,” Remus hissed, reaching back through the bars, but Sirius didn’t come close enough for him to reach. 

“You promised to try, you tried. It’s fine.” 

Before Remus could reply, however, an ear shattering screeching sound flared up, bursting through the still open door in staccato wails, making everyone whirl around, wide eyed. Remus felt his pulse triple and Sirius was back at the bars in an instant. 

“That’s the alarm. They know they’ve been breached. Get out of here! Now! Please!” There was real terror in his voice, and Remus grabbed his arm, leaning in as close as he could get with bars between them. 

“I will come back for you.” 

“Not if you get caught here, you won’t. Go!” 

“Apparently that’s the alarm,” Remus said, louder, so his friends could hear him. “We have to get out of here.” 

“That’s what we’ve been saying,” Dorcas muttered, but Remus ignored her in favor of dashing to the door and poking his head out, looking around to see if anyone had made it this far into the compound to look for them. When he didn’t see anyone, he gestured for everyone to make a break for it. 

“We’re going to have to go over the wall,” Gideon growled, waiting behind with Remus until the rest of their friends had made it out of the building and broken to the left, away from the entrance gate, knowing that that would be the most heavily guarded area. This was all rehearsed escape procedure at this point, and Remus nodded sharply before he got a good look at the wall. It was nearly double his height and topped with razor wire. 

“Yeah, there’s no way we’re getting over that,” he said, panting lightly as they jogged over to where the rest of the group had congregated at the juncture of the next building and a wall of straw bales. 

“Of course there is,” Caradoc muttered, grabbing one of the piles of straw and pitching it at the base of the wall. “We just need to build some stairs.” 

“Then let’s get moving, or we’re all dead,” Lily hissed, grabbing another bale and throwing it next to the first. 

That mobilized the rest of them, and soon they had a dozen straw bales stacked precariously up halfway up the wall. Caradoc scrambled up first, followed by Fabian and Gideon. Cupping his hands together he hoisted them each, one after the other, up to the top of the wall where they picked their way over the wire as carefully as they could before jumping. Remus could only hope they had landed safely on the other side. 

Next Dorcas was lifted up to the top of the wall, and she had just flung herself off the far side when a light flashed around the building they were using for cover. 

Caradoc was still at the top of the straw stairs, and Lily was halfway up. Remus was still standing at the bottom, cornered. He tried to clamber up the first of the bales, but a hand grabbed his wrist. 

Spinning around, Remus saw a young man not much older than himself, more hair than face, light brown skin bleeding into dark in the shadow, thick glasses obscuring his eyes in the gloom. 

“Get your friends down here right now,” he hissed, squeezing Remus’ arm tight enough to hurt. 

Glaring, Remus said nothing, willing Caradoc and Lily to escape over the wall. 

“Get them down here or I’ll alert the rest of security,” the young man tried again, and this time Remus could hear the trepidation in his voice, the way the light he was training on Lily was wavering just slightly. 

“Hey man,” Remus started, speaking just loudly enough for Lily and Caradoc to hear him, but hopefully not loud enough to alert any other security guards. “We came in because we heard they were holding people in cages here.” He held up his free hand in supplication, meanwhile watching the guard’s face to see if there was any sign of recognition in it of what Remus had seen. 

“People? What are you talking about?” The hand that was restraining Remus loosened its grip just slightly, but Remus didn’t try and pull away just yet. 

Lily caught on quickly enough, which Remus was incredibly grateful for, and slipped back down the makeshift stairs they had built. 

“A man we travelled with for a day before he split for Lower Green said he had heard from his previous travelling companions that there was a compound holding people hostage to experiment on. We had to know if it was true, and this place looked like it was built to hold people.” She shrugged and tossed her frizzled and matted hair like she belonged at the highest tables in the richest homes. 

Remus nearly choked at the way the man holding his arm nearly swallowed his tongue, visibly, and blinked slowly a couple of times behind his glasses. He didn’t even notice that Caradoc had slipped over the wall and gotten away. 

“Well, you can clearly see we don’t have any people being held prisoner here,” he said, fingers growing even looser on Remus’ arm. 

“We see that _now_ ,” Lily snapped, continuing to stare him down, Remus suspected so that he didn’t notice the bottles that were still tucked into the back of her trousers, visible unlike the ones he assumed were in her pockets, thankfully not clinking in any way as she moved. 

No one moved for a long minute and then the hand holding onto Remus simply let go. “Go on, get out of here. You haven’t hurt anything as far as I can tell. If I don’t see you around here again, I’ll pretend I never saw you here in the first place.” 

“Thank you,” Lily crooned, leaning up and kissing him on the cheek before turning and scampering up the straw bales and over the wall. 

Remus snorted and watched as the guard couldn’t look away from Lily’s arse as she climbed, only shaking his head and blinking once she was over the wall. 

“I know I’m nowhere near as alluring as my friend there, but thank you from me, as well,” Remus said softly, nodding once and then turning his back resolutely and climbing towards freedom.


	5. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus shares some history with his friends.

By the time Remus woke up the sun was high in the sky, the light refracting through the cave entrance and filtering across his face in striations; bars of shadows caging his face in until he rolled over blinking heavily. 

His shoulder was throbbing, and he suspected that Lily was going to want another look at it. She had practically smothered him in a handful of the things they had brought out of the Menagerie the night before and told him to keep it covered as best he could, but she was persistent and, he assumed, unlikely to leave it there. 

As quietly as he could, he slipped out the front of the cave, sliding into the sunlight and squinting at the silhouette of the compound. Fabian and Caradoc were outside, a little way down the slope leading to the cave system, heads together, and Remus left them alone, hoping maybe they would start to work things out. 

There were people coming out of the gates of the Menagerie, colorful specs of movement, overwhelmingly bright and clean, and probably ripe for the pick-pocketing if he wanted to alert Gideon or Marlene. He left them alone as well. Instead, he sat down in the dust and fished out the pear that Marlene had found while they were gone the night before. 

When they had finally stumbled their way back into the cave, mere hours before the sun came up, exhausted and worn out from the adrenaline crash, they had found Marlene, sitting at the entrance to the cave, with her entire ruck-sac full of pears, hoarding it like the treasure it was. She had tossed one at Dorcas without saying a word, then picked the bag up and walked into the cave, waiting for the rest of them to follow her. Remus almost wanted to be angry at her gloating, but he was too thrilled to have regular access to food to heed it for long. He recognized the residual fear and anger from what he had seen while they were scavenging, rather than any real resentment towards Marlene, and when she gave him his own pear the last of that drained away as well. 

Lily had immediately crunched into her own fruit while sorting through everything they had stolen. The crowning item, however, had been a small sack of nuts that Gideon had found in his searching, only tampered by the fact that he’d had to leave the dried vegetables and oats behind because they were in containers too large to carry. 

Now, watching the families strolling out of the compound, having spent more money than Remus had seen in his entire life on a day’s entertainment, gawking at animals that they didn’t know were really people, he had an idea. 

Before he had the time to flesh it out, however, a shadow tumbled over his head and he whirled around to find Lily hovering over him. 

“Sit before I get a crick in my neck,” Remus said softly, patting the ground beside him. 

Lily hesitated a minute before crossing to his other side and sinking down. 

“I assume you want to see this,” Remus continued, nodding at his shoulder, before reaching down to tug off his shirt to give her access. 

“I mean, I do, yes,” Lily started, then paused and bit her lip before continuing. “But mostly I wanted to talk to you about last night.” 

Remus bit back his initial urge to snap at her, because he knew that if it had been one of the others instead of him, he would have a lot of questions himself. 

“Yeah, okay, go ahead,” he sighed, still watching the tiny outline of the compound and refusing to turn and face Lily, at least until he knew how angry she was with him. 

“I’m not entirely sure what to ask,” Lily said after a long moment in which she leaned against his arm, careful to avoid his shoulder. “Something strange was going on with you, and I guess I need to know if it’s something that will cause trouble for the rest of us.” 

_Yes_. Remus didn’t say it, felt the word burble up the back of his throat and stick there. Threading their fingers together and squeezing gently, he took a deep breath and gave her a different truth. “Have I ever told you about my father?” 

He could feel her shake her head against his bicep, and he detangled them, not willing to accept the contact for this story. 

“The last time I came North was with my father,” Remus started slowly, taking a bite of his pear to give himself a moment to decide how best to tell this story. He was grateful when Lily didn’t push, just sat quietly beside him, waiting until he was ready to give her what he could. “We missed the border closing at the end of the season.” Closing his eyes, Remus shivered, almost feeling the phantom cold dredged up from his memories, the chill that had haunted him for twenty years that he couldn’t shake even in the hottest months when sweat and dehydration couldn’t thaw him at his core. 

“We found an abandoned hut, no more than a room and tried to hunker down for the winter, just me, my father and this book that he had carried with him from before I was born. His mother had taught, once upon a time, about mythical creatures. Tutored children of the richest of the Northern cities. He used to tell me stories about the kitchens he would sneak into while she was teaching, the foods he could steal.” Remus smiled the faintest flicker of a smile, the corner of his mouth barely twitching up at the memory, but it was enough for Lily to take his hand again. He felt the smile fade and he shook her off, finally looking at her with an apology on his tongue, but she shook her head and smiled at him, so he swallowed it back down, trying not to choke on it around the memories that were spilling out. 

“Wait, his mother could tutor rich kids, but not teach her own son how to read?” 

Remus snorted. “She didn’t really have time for him, since tutors with kids were generally unemployed. The poor weren’t meant to procreate, you see, that made more poor people. So those who did were shunned for the few jobs available. That was a thing I was taught when we came North, how to hide so they never knew I was there.” He shook his head, barely remembering days where he was curled up inside hollowed out trees, or beneath piles of hay so that the rich families would consider giving his father a day in the fields to earn some food. He blinked a couple of times and the memories faded away, hazy and vague enough to begin with. 

“Anyway, that book was the only thing of hers he had been able to take with him when she died, and he never let it out of his sight, even though he couldn’t read it. He certainly never taught me, I had to have Kingsley do that when we met.” 

“You’re rambling,” Lily said, sounding startled, and Remus scrubbed a hand through his hair, wincing when he caught his callouses in the strands and had to carefully detangle himself. 

“I know. I’m hoping if I sneak up on this story from behind it’ll be easier to get out.” 

“You don’t have to tell me.” 

“I kind of feel like I do,” Remus said, squaring up his shoulders, feeling the tension creep up into his neck and jaw until he rolled his head with a loud snapping sound that made Lily shudder slightly. 

“We were freezing,” Remus continued, jumping back to the beginning of his story and staring it down, eyes fogging over until he was looking at nothing, not the present, not the past, just some liminal space in between where he could try and remain apart from his own words. 

“One morning I woke up in that little hut and my father’s copy of _Celestial Birds_ was burning in the fire, the last remnants of heat in the place. His coat was tucked around me, with his food still in the pockets. I never saw him again.” He spit the words out as fast as he could, hoping to cauterize the gash they left in their wake. 

A little way down the hill, the grass burst into flames and Remus shuttered watching it spark and crackle until the kindling burned out, eyes refocusing on the world around him. 

Lily said nothing, just sat there and waited for Remus to be ready to move out of the past again and come back. He stayed stock still for a moment, then took a shuddering breath and tipped his head against her temple. 

“Did you ever figure out what happened to him?” She asked softly. 

“Not for certain, but he wouldn’t have burned his book if he had been planning on coming back. He left all of his supplies behind for me. He knew there wasn’t enough for two of us to survive the winter. Truthfully there wasn’t enough for one. I don’t think I would have made it if I hadn’t met Kingsley that same winter.” 

A hand clapped down on his shoulder, and Remus jumped, whirling around just to see Kingsley settle down on his other side, a small piece of stale bread clutched in his hand, tiny bits of crumb debris littering his dark skin like stardust. He cracked the bread into three pieces, roughhewn and nearly inedible. He held them out, and Lily accepted a piece with a small nod of thanks. 

Cheeks heating at being caught telling that story, Remus tried to shake his head, but Kingsley just dropped the piece in his lap and turned away until Remus sighed and picked it up. Taking a large bite from his pear, he spat the piece back out and set it on the bread, hoping the juice would soak in and soften it up enough to chew. Lily seemed to be sucking on her piece, and Kingsley was mostly just scraping the ends off with his teeth. 

Finally, Lily broke the silence. “What does any of that have to do with last night?” 

Taking a bite of his bread to buy some time, Remus turned to gaze back out at the compound, trying to decide how to explain that nothing was what it seemed. 

“I guess I just needed you to know,” Remus said, finally, bread crumbs itchy between his fingers. He shook his hand out, a little harder than was necessary, until Lily caught his wrist. 

“Remus?” 

“They’re people,” he whispered, trying to get Sirius’ mercurial grey eyes out of his head, but only succeeding in revisiting the pain he saw there when they had had to leave. 

“People?” Kingsley asked, wiping crumbs off his own hands onto his threadbare trousers where they mingled with the dirt and dust and were lost between the folds and creases where the trousers hung loose on Kingsley’s slowly diminishing frame. 

“The _exhibits_ ,” Remus hissed. “I don’t know how or why, but they’re people. Captives.” 

“But they were just animals,” Lily answered softly, voice gentle like she was afraid if she spoke too harshly Remus might shatter. He wanted to be offended, but he wasn’t sure she was wrong, so he let it go. 

“I saw something like that, once, actually,” Kingsley said quietly, pulling out a pear of his own and tossing another to Lily, who caught it, but set it in her lap without eating any. “A man who could turn into what he said was a dog and back again at will.” 

“This wasn’t a choice,” Remus said, scrubbing a hand through his hair, and leaving crumbs in its wake. 

“But how can you know that?” Lily sighed, and dropped her head on his shoulder. Remus scuffed her hair then slung an arm around her shoulders, as much for his own comfort as hers. 

“Because he told me so.” 

“The guard?” Lily asked. 

“You guys ran into a guard?” Kingsley hissed, sharp and jagged, words clipped and tense. Remus felt like he might shake apart with them. 

“I thought Caradoc or Lily would have told everyone about that by now,” he shrugged, hunching in on himself. 

“We’ll come back to that,” Kingsley said, leaning on Remus’ other shoulder, effectively making it so he couldn’t get up and leave even if he wanted to, pinned on both sides by his friends until he faced what was bothering him. “Who were you talking to while you were _breaking in _to a massive elite compound to steal supplies?”__

__“Well, when you put it that way,” Remus said, words flippant in a way that he didn’t feel. When neither Kingsley nor Lily laughed Remus sighed and finally dropped his head into his hands, bread forgotten on his knee, pear juice dripping over his knuckles leaving a damp patch on his thigh. “The bird,” he said looking at Lily._ _

__“The bird told you?” Lily asked, eyebrows shooting up, corners of her mouth tight in a way that left Remus unsure if she was worried for him or trying not to laugh at him._ _

__“His name is Sirius and we need to set him free.”_ _

__“Well, since it seems you mean that, let’s go set him free,” Kingsley said, nodding sharply once, then biting his pear, staring back out over the compound._ _


	6. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus recruits some help.

There was a sharp breeze as Remus waited with Kingsley and Lily at the gate, and Remus tried not to shiver. 

He watched, impatiently, as Gideon picked the lock for them. 

“I still don’t understand why I can’t come with you,” Gideon grumbled as the lock clicked open in his hand, much faster than it had the night before. 

“Because someone needs to keep an eye on your brother and Caradoc,” Kingsley said, rolling his eyes. “We don’t need them turning into Dorcas and Marlene on us. Having to listen to one couple is bad enough.” 

“Which is exactly why I want to come with you. Leave those two pairs alone for a while, not send me back to them like some sort of guardian that needs to chaperone, and eventually gets abandoned as they pair off anyway.” 

Lily laughed, a low bell peel of a sound that whistled past on the wind and faded away quickly. “We really don’t need any extra hands, you know. We aren’t looking for supplies.” 

Gideon shrugged. “Well, then, what _are_ you looking for?” 

“Information,” Remus said, tersely, ready to head inside and get back out quickly. This expedition may have been at his request, but that didn’t mean he was interested in prolonging it any more than was absolutely necessary. Getting caught once was more than enough. “And the more people that come the more likely it is that someone gets caught. Let’s not chance it.” 

“Or,” Lily said slowly, giving Gideon a small smile of understanding, “we could cover more ground and get back out again faster.” 

“Really, Lily?” Remus asked, sighing. 

She just knocked his uninjured shoulder with her own. “I wouldn’t want to go back there right now, either.” 

When Kingsley nodded, solemn and serious except for the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, Remus knew he had lost the battle. 

“Fine, but someone else explain what we’re looking for, I want to get moving.” 

“He can come with me to start,” Lily said, linking arms with Gideon and marching through the opened gate, not waiting for Remus to voice any additional protests. Since he didn’t have any, anyway, Remus let them go, nodding at Kingsley and ghosting inside himself, Kingsley close behind. 

Pausing just inside, Remus waited until the others were out of sight and then veered off heading away from where he had encountered Sirius the night before. He knew that if he saw the man again he would forget why he was there. There was something captivating about him that Remus had a hard time ignoring, which was the entire problem in the first place. He knew – and he knew the others knew as well – that he wouldn’t be risking all their lives to rescue just any stranger. As much as he might want to help where he could, he wouldn’t usually do it at the risk of his friends. But he couldn’t shake the resignation he had seen in those grey eyes when they had had to leave. 

Keeping his eyes open, Remus walked slowly through the compound, looking for anything useful. The first few buildings he encountered all looked like they would house more exhibits, and Remus passed them by with little more than a glance. Rough walls of cement, crumbling in places and painted over to look fancier, followed him, casting jutting shadows that had him flinching, waiting for security to leap out at him any second. 

The night air was getting rapidly cooler, the breeze now slicing through his thin clothing, and Remus shivered slightly, pulling the edges of his tattered shirt tight around him. The season was quickly warming up, days already climbing towards too hot, but the nights hadn’t quite caught up yet, and the sweat that still lingered from the day was quickly chilling, leaving his skin tacky and prickling with gooseflesh. 

Gravel crunching underfoot, Remus stepped slowly, trying to remain as quiet as he could, regretting that he had never learned the trick of silent walking that Marlene seemed to have perfected, or that even Caradoc and Kingsley were so good at. He walked more like Lily, or Fabian, heavy on his feet, plodding and stiff, not delicate and smooth and unlikely to get someone heard and caught. It was one of the biggest reasons they usually left him behind when they went on raids. 

Every few meters he stopped and listened to make sure there was no one following him, but after he started losing track of how far he had wandered and how many buildings were behind him, he started growing less cautious; moving a little faster, paying less attention to where he was going and more to what he might find. 

Too big. Too big. Too big. He was looking for something smaller, something that might contain information. 

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted something that looked promising, so he veered sharply to the right, sneaking down a tight alleyway between the Spectral Serpents and the Mythical Maulers. Signs for the exhibits were hand painted and barely noticeable nailed to the heavy doors. Remus only saw them because he was looking, after Sirius’ comment the night before about the Aviary being labeled. Anything that let him know he could skip a building was appreciated. 

At the back of the alley Remus spotted a tiny door, narrow and barred unlike the doors to the exhibits which were wide enough for families to pass through together. 

A quick check that it was locked, and Remus started fumbling at the hem of his shirt where he had slipped a small bit of wire into the stitching, trying not to slice his hand on the end of it like he did the last time. He certainly wasn’t as good as Gideon or Fabian at picking locks, but he could usually get in eventually, if a bit slower. 

With a quick glance around he slipped the bit of wire out of the seam, bent it sharply in half, and slowly worked the two ends into the heavy lock on the door, feeling where they bumped against each tumbler, before he started slowly applying pressure and wiggling them around until the mechanism gave with a soft click. 

Pushing the door open with a low creak that boomed out in the quiet, Remus flinched, and then ducked inside, pulling the door closed behind him, and hoping that no one came to check on the noise. 

Once his eyes adjusted to the lack of even so much as moonlight, the only light coming from a scant bulb barely as big as a finger and reaching barely a meter out, Remus saw shelves of books and he gasped slightly, wishing he had a way to contact the others. He was skimming the titles, reaching out, fingers running along the spines of so many books and fighting to make out what they were in the dark, when one title jumped out at him. 

_Celestial Birds_

The book was off the shelf and in his hands before he consciously realized he had decided to take it. 

He was just tucking the book down his shirt and into the waistband of his trousers when the door slammed, and Remus whirled around, heartbeat pounding in his ear, breath thin and tinny tasting. 

It was the same guard from the night before, with the messy hair and thick glasses, and Remus took a gulping breath, sure that this time he wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of it. 

“What are you doing here?” the guard hissed, closing the door slowly behind him so that no moonlight came filtering through. He didn’t approach Remus, however, and Remus watched him warily, eyeing the heavy stick tucked into his belt. 

Mustering up a glare, Remus crossed his arms hoping to hide the book he was trying to smuggle out, and didn't say anything. 

“Look, I let you leave yesterday, because you hadn’t done anything wrong that I could find, but now you’re back and I’m wondering if I made a mistake.” 

“Yeah, you made a mistake,” Remus hissed, biting his tongue almost immediately and wishing he could have kept his mouth shut. Then, resigned, he continued, knowing it was too late not to. “We weren’t wrong. There are people being held captive here.” He wanted to shout at this man who could work here in ignorance, or feigned ignorance, Remus wasn’t sure which. It was bad enough that the few rich treated the many poor like chattel, but to watch another working person do the same was slowly pushing Remus over the edge. The only reason he didn’t was that he didn’t want to attract the attention of any of the rest of the security detail. 

“I know every corner of this place,” the guard said, sounding less sure of himself than he had when he had burst in on Remus. “There aren’t any people besides the ones that work here.” He ran his fingers through his hair, dark on dark in the gloom. 

“I could prove it to you, if you let me,” Remus said softly, taking a step towards the man blocking the door, hoping to maneuver his way outside, but finding he meant what he said. It would help to have security on their side if they wanted to break Sirius out. 

“How?” 

“Can I trust you?” Remus countered, taking another step closer, one hand held out in supplication. 

“You’re the one who keeps breaking in.” The groan of heavy boots, worn and supple, as the guard slowly leaned back. He didn’t quite take a step backwards, but it was a close thing. 

“How did you know I was here?” Remus asked, changing tactics, still pushing towards the door, slowly, one creeping step at a time. 

“The door was open.” His hand went back to his hair, and Remus took a second to wonder if it was a nervous tic. 

“Actually, it wasn’t, I made sure of that. How did you know I was here?” Remus tried to keep his voice level, but panic was slowly seeping into his bones. If there was some sort of alarm system he might not be the only one cornered, and he would have no way of knowing. 

“Okay, fine, I like to hide in here during my rounds. It’s quiet. It was just luck that I stumbled on you.” 

The relief made Remus choke on a burble of laughter, which crawled its way out of him in a sort of half snort. He was just starting to get himself under control again, when he risked glancing at the other man's face. The look of hurt was enough to make him burst out laughing for real, leaning on his own knees, aware that his reaction was mostly adrenaline, but unable to do anything about it. 

“So what you’re saying is that I got caught because you were too lazy to do your job and accidentally ended up doing your job?” 

“Keep laughing, mate, I can still bring you to the owners, and I don’t think you’d like that.” 

The way his eyes darted around, wide and frantic told Remus that maybe neither of them would like that. 

“Is that a threat?” he asked softly, hoping he sounded more threatening than terrified, but feeling certain that he missed. 

Before the answer came, however, there was a flash of light from the far end of the room. The crackling sound and smell of smoke had both of them backing away quickly. 

“Fuck,” the guard hissed. “Okay, let me get you someplace else. I don’t know if I can trust you yet, but I’d rather find out before the rest of security gets here. Come on.” 

Remus let himself be led out of the door without protest, keeping the other man just a few steps ahead of him, in case he saw a chance to make a break for it. 

“Look, I’m James,” The guard, James, said after a moment, turning back to glance at Remus, a small smile flitting across his face then fading quickly when he caught side of the smoke that was slowly seeping out from the doorway they had just exited. “And I really think you mean well. I trust my own judgement. The others, they can sometimes be a little harsh, so I’d rather we kept this between us if we can. But this is still my job, so please don’t try anything, or I’ll be forced to call for reinforcements, and neither one of us wants that.” 

When Remus didn’t say anything, James sighed and stopped walking. “Which means walk next to me and stop trailing behind where I can’t see you.” 

Taking a deep breath, Remus tried to remind himself that he wasn’t restrained in any way, and that Lily, Kingsley and Gideon were still someplace, and if he was enough of a distraction at least they would have a higher chance of escape. Pulse pounding in his ears, Remus took a couple of steps up until he was side by side with James. 

“Better?” he drawled, trying not to let on just how terrified he was. This was very different than getting caught trying to raid a farm for potatoes. 

“Much.” James started walking again, keeping an eye on Remus to make sure he was keeping up, which left Remus without much choice except to comply. “I’m just going to stash you somewhere and go deal with that fire, and anyone who came to investigate. I’m almost glad I have no idea how it started so I don’t sound like a complete idiot when I have to say I was nowhere near in the area.” 

Remus chuckled tightly, fingers curled around the hem of his shirt, knuckles starting to lock up, but unable to make himself let go. “Don’t want to give away your hiding place?” 

“Not if I can help it, no.” 

They rounded a corner and Remus frowned, recognizing the building in front of them as the aviary that he had been trying to avoid. He didn’t think they had walked that far, and suddenly he was questioning his entire mental layout of the grounds and just how lost he had gotten himself. 

“Just stay here, and I’ll come back as soon as I’ve dealt with the situation back there, and you can give me your proof.” 

The door swung open and Remus was quickly ushered inside before the door slammed closed behind him and he heard a lock click. 

“Bugger,” Remus hissed, testing out the door and finding it as locked as he feared. 

“You came back!” 

Remus felt the exact moment he gave in. He had been avoiding this since they had broken in, what was likely hours ago, but felt like days, minutes, indeterminable eons. 

“I promised I would,” he sighed, turning around and sliding up the bars of the giant birdcage, reaching his fingers through for Sirius to grasp. 

The second his fingers were within reach Sirius tugged on his hand until he was pressed against the bars, entire arm shoved through until mid-bicep where he got stuck, and Sirius was clutching Remus’ arm to his chest like it was a comfort blanket. His shoulder was twinging at the strange angle, and it was his currently uninjured shoulder. The urge to pull back was strong, but the way Sirius’ face went soft and open at the contact, the way his eyes were wide, startled and relaxed, like he couldn’t believe there was someone else there with him, kept Remus still for the moment. 

“Fuck,” Sirius whispered, nearly nuzzling his cheek into Remus’ hand. “I can’t decide if you’re beautiful, or if it’s because you’re the first friendly face I’ve seen in a decade.” 

Cheeks heating up, Remus was grateful for the dark so he could force a laugh he didn’t feel. “Definitely the second one.” 

“I’m not so sure of that,” Sirius shrugged, pressing a kiss to Remus’ wrist that had Remus catching his breath. 

“Please don’t do that,” he whispered, voice shaking a little bit. 

“You aren’t pulling away,” Sirius replied, just as softly. 

“I should be,” Remus answered, still not moving. 

“But you aren’t.” 

“That’s because you’re very distracting. But I should be coming up with a way out of here, not letting myself get distracted.” 

“Maybe that thing you’ve got smuggled under your shirt will help?” Sirius asked, still not letting go of Remus’ arm. 

Remus, who had almost forgotten the book digging into his stomach, startled. 

“My eyes have gotten very good in this dim light,” Sirius said by way of reply, smiling a little against Remus’ skin. Remus had a very sudden urge to know what that smile tasted like, but he fought it down. 

It had been a long time since he had been with someone, anyone, but now was not the time to be giving in to urges best left at the door. He shook his head and slowly extricated his arm, trying not to capitulate at the low whine that Sirius let out with the break of contact. 

Using the book as an excuse to have taken his arm back, and not let on how much he was enjoying the contact as well, Remus fished the book out from under his shirt. “Somehow, I don’t think this is going to help any.” 

“Then why are you stealing it?” Sirius asked, sounding more curious than judgmental, and Remus almost wanted to tell him. Almost. 

“I thought it melt help if we could figure out what you were supposed to be. Maybe that would help us turn you back.” Remus lied, feeling only slightly guilty for it. 

“Oh, that’s not actually a terrible idea.” 

“You’re going to have to describe yourself to me, you know,” Remus said, sinking down to the floor and leaning his back against the cage, the bars digging into his spine. 

Sirius sank down as well, sitting so their backs were pressed together with the cage between them, and Remus could feel the heat seeping through his thin shirt. 

He didn’t have a chance to so much as crack open the book, however, when the door creaked open, and they both jumped. A flash of moonlight illuminated James’ face for a brief moment before the door was slid closed again behind him. 

“Fire’s out,” he breathed, before startling and letting out a small squeak of a sound. “And why are you basically cuddling one of the exhibits? Those things are wild!” 

“They aren’t,” Remus sighed, reaching a hand back over his shoulder, through the bars, and tangling it in Sirius’ hair. 

“I know that’s what you said, but I’m looking at them right now, all these birds, and all the other animals in the other buildings, and I know what I see.” 

Rather than answer him, Remus turned until he was facing Sirius again. “Sirius?” he asked, low and tight. 

“Mmm?” 

“Does he ever come in here alone?” 

“All the time,” Sirius said. 

“Is that bird answering you?” James startled, taking a step closer. 

Raising his voice, Remus smiled, a tight little thing that was more a grimace than anything. “What’s something that only James and the exhibits would know?” 

Sirius actually laughed, and a few of the people in the other cages stirred, but none of them woke up. Remus took a minute to wonder if they had been drugged, since Sirius had been the only one awake two nights in a row. And if they were being drugged, why didn’t it work on Sirius? 

“This morning he was in here dancing around and humming in between talking about some ginger-haired girl that he barely saw and already thinks he’s in love with.” 

Remus choked on his own spit, then burst out laughing. “Really?” 

Sirius nodded, grinning a little. 

Turning back to James Remus couldn’t quite tamp down his laughter, little bursts of it sneaking out with every breath. “You’ve decided you’re in love with Lily already?” 

“Who’s Lily?” James sniffed, cheeks turning ruddy even in the dark. 

“She’ll get a kick out of that,” Remus said, ignoring the question. 

“Okay, fine, I’ll grant you that it seems like at the very least you can understand the bird. But if they’re people, why can’t anyone else see that?” 

“That’s actually a very good question,” Remus sighed. “I was hoping to answer it _after_ getting him out of here.” 

“Wait, you want to break an exhibit out?” 

“James,” Remus said slowly. “If they’re people not animals, they shouldn’t be kept in cages against their will.” 

James’ shoulders sagged and he stared down at where Remus and Sirius were still curled together on the floor. “Yeah, okay, I’m in. But it can’t be tonight. There are too many other security guards wandering around after the fire. It’ll be hard enough getting one of you out of here.” 

“That’s fine,” Sirius said before Remus had a chance to answer. “I can wait a few more days. I thought I’d be waiting forever.” 

“I don’t like it, but he says that’s okay,” Remus said to James, slowly pulling his hand away from Sirius and standing up. “But no later than tomorrow. We still need to find out how to turn him back.” 

“And what about the others?” James asked, waving a hand at the rest of the cages. 

“Once we’ve figured out how to change Sirius back we’ll come back for the rest of them.” 

James locked eyes with Remus and didn’t say anything for a long moment, before finally nodding sharply. “I’m in.”


	7. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus wakes up to a surprise.

Remus was dragged forcefully out of a heavy sleep by a solid weight landing on his chest. Gasping, limbs flailing, he woke with a start, adrenaline thrumming through him as he looked around to see what was happening. 

The first thing he saw was a mop of black hair tickling his nose, and when he tried to sit up a pair of fog grey eyes followed, wide and hopeful. Remus let himself collapse back down to the earth, the weight of another full-grown man on top of him, and he found he couldn’t really complain. He was warm and the packed dirt wasn’t uncomfortable, and Sirius was tangled with him so thoroughly that he was sure they would never move again. 

He did blink a couple of times at Sirius being there, but sleep was still blanketing him, now that the adrenaline was receding, and he didn’t have the energy to question it. If it weren’t for the bruises that he was sure he was developing on his sternum from being landed on, he would have been questioning if he was awake at all, but as it was, he couldn’t lie to himself about that. Or about the fact that he was enjoying it. 

Wrapping his arms around Sirius he struggled to get them both sitting, so he could look around and take stock of the situation. Sirius fought him for a moment, then allowed himself to be maneuvered upright, tucked into Remus’ side. 

Everyone else was still asleep, except for Lily who was sitting guard at the cave mouth. When he looked in her direction, however, he saw that she had company, and not the sort of company he had expected. 

When Remus frowned Sirius followed his gaze and saw James and Lily huddled together, talking. 

“He brought me here,” Sirius said softly, leaning on Remus’ shoulder. “Just opened the cage and walked me out while no one was around.” 

A lot of things were tumbling around in Remus’ head, and he wasn’t awake enough to process them. He still wasn’t completely sure they could trust James; Sirius still looked like a bird to everyone else; they could barely feed the people they had; would the owners of the Menagerie come looking for their missing exhibit? And overwhelming all of it was the contented little noises Sirius was making as he nuzzled into Remus’ neck and the way Remus wanted to keep hearing them indefinitely. 

Before Remus had a chance to respond, however, an earsplitting shriek came from the corner of the cave, off to Remus’ left and behind him, echoing around the high walls and bouncing back from every direction until Remus felt like he might shake apart with it. 

“What’s wrong with you, Caradoc?” He asked, wincing, and pinching the bridge of his nose. The cave was too small for loud noises, and now he felt like he was trying to hear underwater. 

“There’s a giant animal in here with us,” Caradoc huffed. 

Remus heard him scrambling to his feet, but didn’t bother to turn around and see, just tightened his arm around Sirius, who had gone stiff with the noise and hadn’t relaxed yet. 

“It’s obviously tame,” Dorcas offered, not bothering to get up from where she lay tangled with Marlene a few feet closer to the entrance. 

There were sounds of everyone moving around all at once, scraping and clattering, clothes shifting or being pulled on, as everyone woke up all at once. 

“What? What is it?” Lily asked, skittering into the cave from her post, red hair flying behind her like a burst of leaves. 

“Caradoc is afraid of animals,” Gideon grumbled, rolling over and closing his eyes again, clearly put out with having been woken up so soon after his watch shift. 

“Well, he is sort of large and imposing,” Lily said, tossing herself down on the ground now that everyone was awake and they didn’t need a posted guard. 

“What is it doing here?” Caradoc asked as he slowly crept around from behind Remus until he was closer to the entrance to the cave, keeping his back away from them as Remus just reached up and tangled his fingers in Sirius’ hair just for the way it made him slowly unfurl from himself and lean into the touch. 

“I want him here,” Remus said finally, not bothering to address the animal part yet. First, he needed Caradoc to calm down so he might listen. “Thank you for that, James,” he added, nodding in James’ direction. 

James tipped his head in response, but didn’t say anything, just sauntered farther into the cave and sat down, trying, and failing, to look like he wasn’t gravitating directly towards Lily. From the way both Marlene and Dorcas sniggered Remus had to guess that he wasn’t the only one who noticed. 

“But why – wait. Is that the same animal you were cuddling when we found you the first night?” Fabian asked, wrapping an arm around Caradoc, but flashing an amused smile in Remus’ direction from over Caradoc’s shoulder. 

“And the same guard that nearly caught us,” Caradoc added, not making it a question. 

“He’s on our side,” was all Remus could say to that, giving in and leaning his own head on Sirius’ shoulder and enjoying the way Sirius melted into him. 

James threw Remus a mock salute, and Remus flipped him off, grinning a little around Sirius, who was clinging. 

“Can you make them stop staring?” He asked, finally, quiet, words muffled into Remus’ neck. “I’ve spent long enough being stared at.” 

“Okay everyone, time to give our guest some space please,” Remus said by way of reply. 

“Did that thing just _say_ something to you?” Caradoc hissed, and Remus finally glared at him, not bothering to answer and trying very hard not to get angry with Caradoc for not understanding. 

Remus was just about to stand and haul Sirius outside just to give him some air, when Kingsley dropped down on Sirius’ other side, not quite touching, but close enough that it was obviously deliberate. 

“Remus explained that you, and the other exhibits, are somehow people,” Kingsley said softly, voice loud enough that the others could hear him, but calm and gentle so as to not startle Sirius. “Now, I realize that I can’t understand you like this, but I suspect you can understand me. Please nod if that’s true.” 

Sirius lifted his head from Remus’ shoulder and nodded firmly, sharply, once. 

Caradoc hissed out a sharp breath, and his shoulders came down a few notches, but he didn’t come any closer. 

Kingsley, on the other hand, looked at Remus with wide eyes, and Remus abruptly realized that Kingsley hadn’t really believed him until that point. That he had simply gone with Remus because it was what Remus had wanted. Remus loved Kingsley a little bit more in that moment, and determined that he would need to find a proper way to thank him later. 

“Okay then,” Kingsley continued, sounding slightly strangled. “The first thing we need to do is find a way to communicate. Then we can worry about a plan of action.” 

“I understand him just fine,” Remus said softly, shaking his head and wondering how they all thought he had known if he couldn’t speak with Sirius. 

“Why is that, anyway?” Marlene asked, finally sitting up and scrubbing her hands across her face and blinking her dark eyes a few times while Dorcas sat up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. 

Remus frowned in their direction, their day and night twinning together. “You know, I have no idea.” 

“It’s because you can do magic,” Sirius said, still cuddled into Remus’ side, but slowly sitting up straighter, less hunched on himself, the longer no one tried to make him leave. 

“I can what?” Remus hissed, turning to face Sirius directly, which dislodged Sirius from his shoulder, but left their knees touching. 

“Do magic,” Sirius repeated, sounding calm and sure and not at all like he was making Remus’ head spin. 

“What is he saying,” Gideon asked, a curious tilt to his head. 

“Umm, he’s saying I can do magic, apparently,” Remus answered, still watching Sirius wide-eyed. 

“Wait, what?” Dorcas raised her eyebrows at him, glancing between him and Sirius until finally Remus shrugged. 

“I have no idea what he’s talking about.” 

“I can’t explain it,” Sirius said, starting to curl in on himself again, until Remus sighed and held out a hand which Sirius immediately latched on to. “Sorry,” he added, and it took Remus a moment to realize that he meant for the hand holding, not for being unable to explain himself. 

“Hey,” Remus whispered, leaning in until his forehead was resting against Sirius’ and he was sure no one except possibly Kingsley, still sitting on Sirius’ other side, could hear him. “I don’t mind the cuddling. If I had spent that long without any sort of human contact I would probably do the same thing. You don’t need to be sorry about that. Ever.” 

Kingsley, kindly, didn’t say anything, or even look in their direction, and Remus smiled at him over Sirius’ shoulder, a small nod of thanks for everything, just before Sirius dropped against his shoulder again, the tension seeping out of him now that he had permission. 

“And what did you mean, I can do magic?” Remus said a little louder, trying to get back to the matter at hand, and draw attention away from the way Sirius was now nuzzling his shoulder. 

“Honestly, it’s just a guess,” Sirius said. “I assumed that’s why you could see me.” 

“What’s it – he – saying?” Caradoc asked, tamping down a grimace and still standing slightly behind Fabian. 

“Basically, that this is all a guess, but he assumes I can do magic because I can see him.” 

“I still don’t understand this whole _that bird is a human being_ thing,” Dorcas said, extracting herself from Marlene and fetching the bag of pears, which she started passing around. 

“It’s a spell,” Sirius answered, sitting up straight for the first time since Remus woke up with Sirius practically on his chest. “I could probably undo it myself if I knew the specifics.” He paused, then added. “And I was still human.” 

Remus relayed that information to everyone else quickly, and then startled when James came over and sat down in front of them, carefully surrounding Sirius with people he already knew and trusted, at least to some extent. 

“Wouldn’t that be extremely risky?” Kingsley asked, gently, keeping his eyes trained towards the mouth of the cave, but not moving away from Sirius. “Keeping captives that anyone who can do magic can see are captives?” 

Sirius shrugged. “Maybe a little, but knowing the – owners – as I do, I suspect that anyone who voices a complaint just ends up in a cage.” 

Remus translated and watched the faces around him go tight as that sunk in. 

“However, none of this is helping us figure out how to change him back,” Remus added, tightening his arm a little around Sirius, and hoping that Sirius could tell that the way he clipped his words had more to do with the situation than any frustration with Sirius. 

“Why don’t we check that book you stole, see if it has any answers,” James said, narrowing his eyes at Remus. 

“You stole a book?” Gideon asked, frowning. 

“How did you know about that?” Remus hissed at James, ignoring Gideon. 

“That’s why we’re here,” James said, tipping his head at Sirius. “When we got around to assessing the damage from the fire last night Rebastan noticed there was a book missing, and from there it wasn’t hard to make the leap to someone unauthorized having been there. They’re bulking up security as we speak. I decided it was time to get get out while we could. If they really are people, which I have no choice but to believe at this point, I want no part of what they’re doing in there.” 

“They’re bulking up security? Then how are we supposed to get in and get more information? Or rescue the rest of the prisoners?” Remus asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and silently cursing not hearing this part first. 

“You want to rescue the rest of them?” Dorcas asked, sounding a little frantic, words pinched off, clipped and brittle. 

“I agree with Remus,” Kingsley said, voice firm but quiet, the reverberations of the cave lending him all the volume he needed. “We can’t just leave them there now that we know.” 

No one else voiced an argument. 

“Well, then, let’s take a look at that book,” James said again, holding out a hand expectantly. 

Reluctant, Remus pulled the book out from where he had hidden it in his rucksack, and went to flip it open, not quite willing to just hand it over. 

When James reached to take the book from Remus he flinched, and the far end of the cave burst into flames. 

“Everyone out, grab what you can!” Kingsley shouted, scrambling to his feet and grabbing two of the closest bags, one of which was Remus’. 

Remus lost track of Sirius briefly in the commotion as everyone clambered up and burst into motion all at once, flying around grabbing what they could and storming outside into the fresh air as smoke started to fill the cave. 

James, Remus and Kingsley, who had been farthest back in the cave, and were the last to make it outside, came out coughing and covering their faces with their shirts, Remus dreading the burning in his lungs and what that might mean when the dust started to kick up for the warmest part of the season. 

Looking around frantically, Remus spotted Sirius at the far end of the crowd, the book Remus had stolen clutched to his chest, eyes wide. 

Approaching slowly, Remus held out a hand, not sure if it was for Sirius or the book. Sirius fixed the uncertainty by handing Remus the book, and then leaning against his shoulder and muttering, “I told you you could do magic.” 

“Hmm?” Remus hummed, still coughing which dislodged Sirius from his shoulder. 

“Well, there was nothing else in there that could have started a fire,” Sirius shrugged. “Which means it’s going to be up to you to turn me back.” 

“Well bugger.” 

“What’s wrong?” Lily asked, coming up on Remus’ other side. “Besides our shelter being on fire, of course.” 

“We need to get back in there and finish this,” Remus said, not bothering to explain what Sirius had told him, not sure _how_ to explain it. “The longer we stay here the higher chance we have of getting caught. And I want this done with.” He took a deep breath, staring out at Malfoy’s Menagerie in the distance, the day crowd filtering in through the gate. “I fucking hate the North.” 

“I’m coming with you,” Sirius said immediately. 

“No, you’re really not,” Remus answered. 

“He’s not what?” Kingsley asked, coming over as well, followed by everyone else until they were clustered together, circling around Remus and Sirius until Sirius hid his face in Remus’ shoulder and Remus wrapped an arm around him protectively. 

“Coming with us when we break back in,” Remus said, trying to sound convincing. Convinced. 

“Of course, I am!” Sirius snapped, his words losing some of their punch muffled into Remus’ neck. 

“I’m the only person who doesn’t see some sort of giant bird when they look at you, Sirius, there is no way we can smuggle you in with us. I’m sorry.” 

“We’ll see about that,” Sirius grumbled, but he didn’t pull away from Remus, so Remus knew he had won. He just wished that he felt a little better about it. 

“Okay, well, let’s work on a plan,” Kingsley cut in, and Remus nodded, the arm around Sirius getting just a little tighter.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mild violence and severe injuries in this chapter.

Remus held his breath as James approached the guard that was patrolling the area, hands held out while they were all being eyed warily. 

“Hey, Peter, mate, they’re with me, don’t worry about it,” James said, trying to get the other man, Peter, to put his gun away and not call for back-up. 

“I don’t remember you having a gun,” Remus grumbled, glaring at the back of James’ head. Kingsley, nudged his bad shoulder, and Remus winced, but bit his tongue. 

“I refused it,” James answered anyway, still watching Peter, who was approaching, but not yet calling for assistance, which Remus took as a promising sign. 

“Okay, James,” Peter said, dropping his gun but not holstering it, just holding it limply at his side, one pudgy finger still loosely folded over the trigger. “We’re friends, so I’ll give you a chance to explain why you’ve brought unauthorized people in here after hours.” 

“It’s a rescue mission,” James said, grinning like there hadn’t just been a gun pointed at them. Like this was the most fun he’d had. Like Remus wanted to shake him. Hard. 

“James, mate,” Kingsley hissed, taking a step forward until his shoulder was brushing Remus’. 

“It’s okay,” James said, turning around and flashing a too bright smile before toning it down and turning back to Peter. “Pete’s my friend. He’ll help, right Pete?” 

“That depends on what you need help with,” Peter answered, cautious, glancing around them like he expected them to be interrupted at any moment. 

Remus balled his hands into fists and tucked them into his shirt, trying not to look as tense as he felt. He didn’t know James at all. And while he certainly seemed to want to help, and had even rescued Sirius, Remus was starting to question if they should be trusting him now that they were faced with the real risk of getting caught. 

Gideon and Fabian stepped forward so they were flanking Remus and Kingsley, a line of solidarity behind James, staring down Peter. Remus sighed to himself, almost wishing they hadn’t, because he didn’t want to come across as aggressive, but Peter, surprisingly, nodded at them before facing James again. 

“What do you need?” 

“Information, for now,” James said, settling down into his roles of liaison in a way that made Remus half want to follow him and half want to turn and flee. 

“The kind you don’t already have?” 

“The kind about the exhibits,” James said, sounding like he was choosing his words carefully. 

Remus still wanted to shake him, just a little bit. He understood, logically, that having someone familiar with the layout of the grounds, beyond a quick exploration of a couple of nights, would be helpful. Especially someone with a set of keys. But when that someone was terrible at subterfuge it was starting to become almost as much of a liability as it was a help. 

“James,” he said quietly, clapping a hand to James’ shoulder, which was trembling minutely beneath his fingers. 

“He’s my friend,” James said again, a little more forcefully this time, and Remus wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince them, himself, or Peter, who was watching them warily, but who was still holding the gun loosely at his side. 

“Friend or not, we don’t have time for this,” Remus tried, squeezing the shoulder he was still clinging to slightly, trying to take some of the tension for himself so that James would unfreeze and get them moving again. 

“Right. Right. Okay. Pete, do you want to help with our rescue mission?” 

“What are we rescuing?” Peter asked, sliding the gun into the holster under his arm and tucking his light jacket over it so it vanished from sight. He stepped forward, and both Gideon and Fabian tensed beside Remus, but all Peter did was sidle up next to James and clap him on the other shoulder. 

“Right now, we need to liberate any information we can find on the acquisition of the exhibits,” James said, seemingly picking his words around using the word human, and starting walking, everyone falling in step behind him. 

Remus dropped back until he was walking side by side with Kingsley, a couple of steps behind James and Peter, who were talking quietly amongst themselves. Fighting the urge to slip up close enough behind them to hear what they were talking about, Remus linked his arm with Kingsley, as much to keep himself tethered as for the contact. 

“It’ll be okay,” Kingsley said softly, unlinking their arms, but slinging his arm around Remus’ waist instead, tugging him in until they were nearly tripping over each other. “We’ll find what we need and you’ll save your bird, and then we’ll get the fuck out of here.” 

The fact that Remus’ first reaction, which he barely bit down, was to grumble that Sirius wasn’t his, made him pull up short, nearly toppling them both over. It wasn’t that it wasn’t true, but the fact that even in his own head Remus sounded petulant about that fact, and he wasn’t about to give himself the time to contemplate that any time soon. Possibly never, if he could manage it. 

Fabian stepped on the back of Remus’ heel, and Remus finally gave in, tumbling to the ground, entirely off balance. 

Gideon snickered, and after a moment to glare at them, so did James. 

“If you lot are done making all that noise, I have the keys to the main office,” Peter offered, eyes crinkling at the edges like he was fighting laughing himself, and Remus felt his face heat up, grateful for the dark so that no one, except possibly Kingsley, who had hit the ground with him, could see it. 

“We were trying to figure out how to get into the safe,” James added, holding out a hand and hauling Remus to his feet, Kingsley leveraging himself up and brushing the dust off of both of them, swatting Remus hands away when Remus tried to help. 

“Don’t tax that shoulder, you’re not fully healed yet,” Kingsley said, gentle but firm, lines forming between his eyes. 

Remus sighed, but let himself be fussed over for a second, knowing that Kingsley was right. They hadn’t had time for his shoulder to heal any further than what two rounds of infection balm could do, which, as it turned out, wasn’t very much. 

Finally, he stepped away from Kingsley. “It’s a little dirt. Let’s keep moving.” 

“Leave the safe to me,” Gideon grinned, raising an eyebrow at Kingsley who shrugged, but stepped away from Remus, leaving them to follow after James and Peter once again. 

They slipped between the buildings as silently as a group of six people could manage, only pausing twice, once to allow another security guard to pass by, and once outside a heavy metal door with a solid lock and bars across a tiny window. 

Wordlessly Peter handed the key to James. “I’ll go make sure that no one else tries to do rounds out this way tonight, you see if you can find what you need.” 

Clapping Peter on the back James flashed a small smile. “Thanks, Pete. I owe you.” 

“Don’t mention it,” Peter replied with a strange smile before vanishing back the way they had come. 

James clicked the lock open and swung the door wide, letting Remus and Kingsley slip inside first followed by Gideon and Fabian, and then following them in, closing the door again behind them. 

There was no safe in sight, so they fanned out around the small room looking for any sort of hidden catch or secure space where a safe might have been hidden. The light was dim, nearly too dark to safely search in, but none of them wanted to risk any additional light than that, since the door did have a window, even if it was a small one. 

It was slow going as they all tried to avoid any sort of noise, but eventually Fabian hissed out, “Over here. I’ve found it.” 

Turning around Remus found Fabian crouched in front of a loose panel in the wall, a sliver of black cracked open and slowly beginning to gape further beneath the prying of Fabian’s careful fingers. “Gideon, get your arse over here, I’m no good for this kind of lock picking,” Fabian hissed out, still leveraging the wall open centimeter by centimeter so it wouldn’t make any noise. 

Remus followed Gideon as he sidled up next to Fabian and crouched down, peering inside the now rather large crevice in the wall. 

Giving up on watching, Remus wandered towards a large desk shoved into the corner of the room, and started leafing through the papers that were scattered on the top. The first thing that he found was a ledger of sorts, with notations for the day’s intake, entrance fees versus number of visitors with cost of care and upkeep factored in for each day. He noted that the cost of care and upkeep was abysmally low despite the entrance fee being enough to feed nearly a dozen people for weeks. 

The next thing he found was a small registry that listed all the sources of food, seeds, grains, and other supplies that were delivered weekly to Malfoy’s Magical Menagerie, and Remus slipped that into a fraying pocket as a good resource for places to raid if they started running out of legitimate options. 

“I’ve got it,” Gideon crowed, a little louder than Remus would have preferred. 

Remus turned around to look and the first thing that he saw was piles of money. More money than he had ever thought could be in one place. And then he spotted it, in the middle of the safe, a warn and tattered book. 

Gideon picked it up gingerly, then turned around and handed it to Remus, who cracked it open very carefully, making sure that he didn’t damage the already fragile spine. 

_**The transformative properties of illusion casting can be transferred either in part or in whole upon the subject matter. While many factors will come to play in this transfer, none so much as the will of the caster.**_

The words were looping across the page in a sharp, flowery script that had Remus squinting in the dark, nose pressed nearly to the yellowing pages. 

“This is what we want,” he breathed, blinking heavily and closing the book, not wanting to waste any more time. 

“In that case, let’s get out of here,” Kingsley said from his place by the door where he had been keeping watch. He grabbed the door and pulled, only to find that nothing happened. “Fuck,” he growled, tugging harder. 

Remus felt his pulse speed, and his breathing was suddenly ragged. “What’s wrong?” 

“It’s locked,” Kingsley answered, slamming a fist against the door with a sharp rap that made Remus wince. 

“Gideon, can you?” Remus called, no longer worried about being quiet. If they were locked in from the outside someone already knew they were there. 

“Yeah, I've got it,” Gideon answered, hauling himself up from where he was still crouched in front of the safe, carefully selecting money that wasn’t traceable and depositing it in Fabian’s hands. 

Fabian, stuffed the money into the pocket stitched on the inside of his trousers, handing some to Remus and Kingsley as well, just in case. Kingsley hid his portion, but Remus just stood there, holding the money until Kingsley gently pried it out of his fingers and added it to his own. 

“Remus, it’s fine. Gideon will get us out of here before they realize we’re missing. Breathe.” 

Remus drew a long shaky breath, followed by another, stuttering air whistling through his nose as he exhaled slowly. 

He watched, trying to breathe evenly, as Gideon crouched by the door, and went to work. 

Just then, the door crashed open, hard, slamming into Gideon’s head and flinging him back where he landed in a heap and didn’t move. 

Fabian cried out and stumbled to his brother’s side, dropping to his knees and checking for a pulse. 

Remus took a step forward, but stopped when a woman with familiar grey eyes strutted through the door flanked by two men who looked too much alike to be anything but brothers, Peter trailing behind them looking smug. 

“You’re all going to make _wonderful_ additions to our little collection here,” the woman crooned, cocking her head and eyeing them all casually. 

“Pete?” James hissed, eyes wide and wounded looking, fingers curling into fists at his side. 

“Sorry, James, mate. You’re too much of a bleeding heart to have ever belonged here, and I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but I refuse to end up in a cage myself.” Peter shrugged, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, making Remus want to punch the smirk right out of him. 

“How’s Gideon?” Remus asked quietly, looking at Fabian and trying to ignore the way they were cornered. 

“Breathing,” was the only answer he got. 

“Well, we can’t leave him here,” Remus said, balling up his fists and dropping into a crouch, getting ready to fight their way out if they could. 

“No,” Fabian said softly, placing himself between the Menagerie contingent and Gideon. “I can’t leave him here. You should probably go get reinforcements.” 

“No one is leaving,” the woman said, sneering and stalking forward. “You’re all joining our exhibits.” 

“You said that already, Bellatrix,” James goaded, eyeing Fabian who nodded back. “But I don’t think we have the same idea on how this is going to go.” And then, with no warning, James swung his fist, which connected with the side of her head, sending her stumbling backwards into one of the men she had brought with her. 

Remus felt a rush of air whip past his ear, and suddenly the tiny room erupted into chaos. There were fists flying, and guns being drawn, though, thankfully, no one was willing to shoot in the tangle of struggling bodies, and the air kept crackling like an overgrown static charge that fizzled out before it could burst out. 

A hand grabbed Remus’ arm, and he whirled around ready to strike when he saw it was Kingsley. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Kingsley hissed, tugging Remus towards the suddenly unattended door. 

“We can’t leave the others,” Remus protested, even as he was being propelled outside into the night air. 

“We’ll come back for them. Standard procedure,” Kingsley insisted. “You have the books; we need to get them out first. We can come back after, with the others, come on!” 

The bullet that whizzed past Remus’ shoulder decided them and they were suddenly running as fast as they could towards the gate, hoping that the bulk of security would still be in the office and they could fight their way out. 

Pounding footsteps coming from a tangential path, however, had them pulling up short and ducking into the closest building to hide. 

Easing the door closed Remus backed away into the deepening gloom slowly, nearly colliding with the shelf that was stacked nearly to the roof of the small room. A steadying hand on the rocking piece of metal framing and Remus ducked behind it, squeezing in between rows of shelves that appeared to hold stores of food; grains and dried fruits, easily storable goods in large bags. Quantities the likes of which Remus had never seen before in his life. 

Kingsley pressed in next to him and they collectively held their breath until the footsteps stampeded past and went silent again. 

They waited a few extra minutes, the shelf behind them digging into Remus’ back, leaving a line of bruise from hip to hip. 

“I think we should move on,” Kingsley said softly, clasping Remus’ arm tightly for a moment before pushing him towards the door. 

That's when the explosion happened. At least, Remus guessed it was an explosion. There was a deafening booming sound and everything in the small storage room rattled. Bags and canisters fell off the shelving and clattered on the cement floor, kicking up a cloud of dust and making Remus cough. 

“What just happened?” he hissed. When he got no answer, he whirled around to face Kingsley, only to see that one of the shelves had collapsed completely, pinning Kingsley beneath it. “Kingsley!” 

He got nothing but a groan, and Remus flung himself to the ground beside Kingsley, clearing the rubble from around his face and head as best he could to make sure Kingsley could breathe. 

Several long minutes and Remus was starting to think that it was hopeless, and he could feel his breathing hitch around the burning that was welling up and threatening to spill over in tears. Blinking hard, he fought to keep calm, keep his head from spinning away with panic, and very carefully attempted to lift the shelf. It shifted a couple of centimeters and then settled back down, leaving his injured shoulder throbbing, fire flickering down to his elbow. 

Kingsley screamed, eyes flying open, breathing labored and reedy. 

“Kingsley,” Remus whispered, cupping his cheek, trying to offer what little comfort he could. “Kingsley, what can I do?” 

“You’re...” he trailed off gasping for air. “You’re goh-going to...” another gasp, “h-have to leave me here.” 

“I can’t do that.” 

“You h-have to. You c-can't lift this off of me ah-alone. You’ll coh-cause more damage if y-you try.” The run of words seemed to exhaust Kingsley and he slumped back against Remus’ hand, eyes closing. 

“I can’t just leave you.” 

“Go save your bhi-bird,” Kingsley gasped, his one free hand coming up to grip Remus’. “Come back wi-ith Caradoc. Now go. Go.” He pushed Remus, hard, and Remus slipped sideways just as Kingsley passed out. 

“I’ll be back with help, I promise. I won’t leave you here,” Remus swore, standing up and fleeing towards the door. 

He encountered no more resistance on his way to the gate, which he attributed to the column of smoke coming from the direction of the office he had had to leave the others behind in. With a silent prayer that they were all okay, he fled, hating himself a little for being the only one to leave.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go a little more wrong, and a little bit right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for panic attack in this chapter.

Remus burst into the cave, tripping over his own feet, gasping for breath, with tears streaming down his face. He could smell the smoke of the fire permeating the cave mouth, oozing out like blood from a wound, staining the surrounding rock sooty grey. He clawed his way through the clouds into the cave, nearly collapsing against the wall as soon as he got inside. 

“Remus!” Lily gasped, darting to his side, hands fluttering over his sides like she could feel what was wrong seeping into her fingers. 

“What happened?” Caradoc asked from where he was sitting with Marlene and Dorcas who were cuddling amongst their collected pile of bags, but who were slowly detangling themselves from each other and slowly standing up and looking around for the others who had left with Remus. 

“We got caught,” Remus coughed out, trying to catch his breath from running the entire way back. 

“And you left them there?” Caradoc hissed, now on his feet storming his way to Remus and slamming a hand against the rock by his head. “You left Fabian there?” 

“This is about more than Fabian,” Dorcas growled, tugging Marlene to her feet and stalking over to glower at Caradoc. 

“You wouldn’t be saying that if it had been Marlene he’d left behind,” 

Remus, who privately agreed with Caradoc, didn’t say anything, just stood there and let them blow off some of their worry before they tried to work out a plan of rescue. 

Over Lily’s shoulder he saw Sirius, curled up a small nook of the cave watching them warily. “I can help with a rescue,” Sirius said quietly, not getting up, eyes flickering to Caradoc. 

“What did it – he – say?” Caradoc asked, voice still fizzling with stress, words clipped and jagged, meant to cut. 

“He offered to help with the rescue,” Remus said, still watching Sirius who watched him back until Remus finally pushed his way past Caradoc and dropped the books they had stolen in front of Sirius. 

Sirius immediately leaned his head on Remus’ shoulder while Remus took a deep, steadying breath. 

“We don’t have time for that,” Caradoc growled, whirling around to glare at Remus and Sirius. 

“I know,” Remus said gently, not moving. “But until everyone calms down enough that we can properly plan I’m not wasting my time staring at the walls.” 

He began flipping through pages while Lily tried to talk Caradoc down. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he didn’t really need to. She would get him calm and then they would come up with a plan to rescue their friends and burn that cursed place to the ground. 

Soon Sirius was leaning over his shoulder, reading with him. 

“I think this is it,” Remus said softly, running his fingers over a line of text. 

“You have to do it,” Sirius answered, just as softly. 

“I don’t know how.” 

“You’re all I have.” 

“Would you please stop bonding with the bird and help us,” Caradoc yelled, eyes narrowed, hands curled into fists at his side. 

Remus didn’t even bother to stand up. “Caradoc, do you really think I liked having to leave the people who are _my friends, too_ behind? Do you think I don’t want to do everything I can to rescue them? Do you truly believe that I would rather spend my time on something that could wait a day or two rather than barge in there immediately to save them?” He stopped and gasped in a breath, fighting against the tears that were threatening to start up again. 

“Then why are you?” The words came out sounding far more helpless than angry, and Remus finally caved and eased himself out from under Sirius’ weight, standing and letting himself reach out, offering. Caradoc nearly collapsed into his arms, shaking, but not crying, which Remus was grateful for. He was barely holding himself together, and he wasn’t sure how he would have handled it if Caradoc broke down entirely. Rage they could use. 

“Because I’m scared. Because I’m angry at myself. But most importantly, because we don’t have a plan, and I’m too upset to help make one, but if I just stare at the walls of this cave until we can _do_ something I’m going to lose what little control I’m still maintaining and you’ll have to leave me here. I can’t have you leave me here when this is my mess.” 

A pair of arms came up and wrapped around Remus’ back, stretching until he saw a pair of pale hands on Caradoc’s dark arms. 

“We’ll save them,” Lily said, determined, sure, and most likely lying. Remus tried to believe her anyway. 

“Actually,” Marlene started slowly, looking at the pile of them as they slowly separated themselves from each other. “It might be the best plan we could come up with.” 

“Saving them?” Dorcas asked, frowning at Marlene, an arm wrapping around Marlene’s waist. 

“Figuring out how to change him back,” Marlene continued, glancing around at all of them. “Think about it, if you’d been held captive for years against your will, forced into not just a cage of bars but also a cage of a body that isn’t yours, who would you fight alongside? The people who held you captive, or the people who set you free?” 

The entire cave stilled for a moment, and then Remus slumped down the wall, sliding to the ground, soot and rock debris clinging to his back. 

“That’s brilliant,” Lily breathed, eyes wide. 

“I could kiss you right now,” Caradoc added, flinging his arms around Marlene, but letting go quickly at the glare from Dorcas. “I won’t, of course, but I could.” 

Remus just tried not to vomit at the idea of this entire thing hinging on him being able to pull off magic he didn’t understand or even truly believe that he had. 

“I believe in you,” Sirius breathed into his ear. 

Remus shivered and then sighed, cracking the book open again. “Okay then, I guess we need to figure this out as quickly as possible.” 

“It looks like intention is more important than the process,” Sirius read over his shoulder, dropping his chin back onto Remus’ shoulder. 

“Yeah, but that would mean that I should just have to picture you the way you should be and you’d turn back. If that were the case you’d already be back, since I’ve only been able to see you that way.” 

“I know I’m only getting half of this conversation,” Dorcas cut in, “But it sounds like this is less a _chant the right words and carve the right symbols_ sort of thing and more a _wish really hard_ sort of thing. Yes?” 

Remus nodded, still frowning at the book. “That’s what it seems to be saying, but there has to be more to it than that.” 

“Why? Maybe you aren’t thinking about the right thing. Maybe it’s not the result you should focus on, but the change itself. I mean, that has to be why they had books full of the creatures they were making, right?” 

“How do I do that if I can’t see him the way the rest of you do?” 

Dorcas rolled her eyes at him and grabbed his rucksack tossing it at him. “Where’s that first book you stole?” 

Frowning at her, Remus dug through his bag until he grabbed the edge of Celestial Birds, the book he had grabbed on a whim out of some half-buried memory. He pulled it out and handed it over just as Caradoc, Lily and Marlene came and joined them, dropping down to the cold stone cave floor around him and Sirius, closing them in. 

Sirius curled against his side, tucking his face away against Remus’ shoulder, and Remus sighed, letting him, trying to help him feel less crowded by not drawing attention to it. 

Dorcas took the book and started flipping through it rapidly, barely pausing at some of the pages, and Remus winced a couple of times when it looked like she might tear them. 

Eventually she stopped, Lily’s hand on her arm, and she passed the book back to Remus, opened carefully to a colorful bird with bright purple plumage and gold flecks scattered over it like stars. A Purple Nebula Parrot. 

“This one. He’s got a little more black around the eyes, but that one. Maybe that will help.” 

“So, I’m just supposed to close my eyes, imagine that image turning into Sirius and suddenly –” 

Remus was cut off by a chorus of gasps and he turned to look around, but he couldn’t see anything that might have set them off. 

Before he could ask a pair of arms flung themselves around his shoulders and the rest of Sirius followed, hauling Remus in for a solid kiss before breaking away almost instantly, gasping. 

“It worked. You really did it.” 

Remus, who was still reeling from being kissed, spun around to look at everyone else who were all staring at Sirius. 

“Well,” Caradoc choked out, “at least you’ve done well for yourself.” 

“Really, Caradoc?” Lily grumbled, smacking him on the arm. 

“What, are you going to deny that’s an attractive man that Remus just produced out of a bird?” 

“I think this is not the time for that,” Lily sighed, shaking her head, but giving Sirius a once over and then flushing when Remus raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Can you do it again?” Marlene asked. 

“Well, since I don’t know how I did it the first time, I’m going to go ahead and say sure, why not. Of course, I can.” 

“I can help,” Sirius said, lacing their fingers together, and yanking Remus abruptly to his feet. 

“You can do magic?” Lily asked, craning her neck to stare up at them, but not getting up herself. 

Sirius frowned, then shrugged. “Well, I haven’t tried in over a decade, but I used to be able to. I imagine I still can now that I’m back to myself.” 

“Maybe you should test that theory before we go storming in there,” Marlene replied, dryly, smirking, but her eyes were pinched. Every second they spent on this was one more second they were letting their friends stay in danger, if they were even still alive. 

Eyes narrowed, Sirius cast about the cave looking for something, Remus wasn’t sure what. After a long moment he sighed and stooped to grab up a large chunk of rock. “Not ideal, but it’ll do,” Sirius said softly, not bothering to look at anyone else. For a brief instant Remus was sure that nothing was going to happen, then suddenly the rock was a thick, warm blanket that Sirius dropped into Marlene’s lap. 

“Holy fuck,” Caradoc hissed, reaching out and grabbing at the blanket just to see for himself. 

“I don’t suppose that magic of yours can heal Remus’ shoulder?” Lily asked, finally standing up and clapping Sirius on the back like he was one of them. Like he had always been one of them. 

Sirius frowned. “Remus is hurt?” 

Lily just glared at Remus like it was somehow his fault that Sirius hadn’t noticed, despite being physically attached to Remus practically since they met. 

“It’s just a cut,” Remus grumbled. 

“It’s severely infected despite the infection salve, Remus,” Lily sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

Remus just bit his tongue and didn’t say that it had been the reason he had had to leave Kingsley behind. He felt bad enough already, and he didn’t want everyone else to be even more disappointed with him than they had been when he had returned alone. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Sirius asked, turning wide eyes on Remus, the corners of his mouth pinched. Remus had to look away. 

“What would it have mattered? Everything that can be done is being done. Unless you really can fix it with magic.” 

Sirius shook his head. “No, I can’t. It probably can be fixed with magic, but I was never any good with healing. If I tried it, I would probably just make it worse. I’ve only really ever been good at that,” he said, gesturing towards the blanket that Marlene and Dorcas were carefully folding and storing with the rest of their bags. “And even that I didn’t realize would work the same on people. On any living things at all, for that matter.” 

“Well then, can we please go rescue our friends now?” Caradoc asked, glaring around the cave at all of them until they all nodded, decisive and shaky. 

“We’ll have to split up,” Remus said as they all marched out of the cave, squinting in the bright sunlight. The heat hit them all almost immediately, the sun high in the sky slowly steaming the surrounding area as the river slowly fogged up the banks and into the town and slowly climbing towards the cave. The nights were still cold enough that the heat of the day was oppressive, and it would only get worse as the season wore on unless they rescued their friends and continued North. 

“Why?” Marlene growled, hand tightening on Dorcas’ hand until her knuckles popped. Dorcas didn’t so much as wince. 

“Because Sirius and I are going to have to head towards the exhibits, start turning people back.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before continuing. “And because Kingsley isn’t with the others.” 

“Fuck,” Lily swore. 

“What happened in there?” Dorcas near whispered the question, and Remus wished he could pretend he hadn’t heard it, cracking his eyes open and wincing. 

“Unless it impacts our rescue, we don’t have time for that,” Lily cut in brusquely, giving Remus a quick glance. Remus knocked their arms together in thanks. He knew he was going to have to explain at some point, but he’d rather wait until everyone was safe again before admitting how badly he had arsed it all up and possibly gotten some of his best friends killed. 

Air was suddenly at a premium, and Remus could feel his pulse in the back of his head, the back of his throat tasted metallic, and he was certain his knees were going to buckle. It had been, not okay, but tolerable when he had other things to think about, but now the way Kingsley had looked when he had had to flee, the image of Gideon crumpled in a heap surrounded by security guards and Fabian trying to protect him, it was all too much. 

A scream clawed its way up from the depths of his fear and escaped, echoing off the rocks behind them and bouncing around as he sank down to the ground. 

“Okay, okay, can you breathe for me?” Sirius voice faded into Remus’ peripheral awareness, muffled and hazy, but breaking through. There was a hand on his shoulder that he thought came with the voice, but he couldn’t make himself look. 

He took a deep breath, then another one, then choked on a sob. 

“Remus,” Lily’s voice joined Sirius’, and another hand fell on his arm, this one squeezing in a way that was very familiar. “Remus, we need you to hold it together. You’re the only one who knows where we need to go.” 

Remus thought he might be shaking his head, but he wasn’t sure over the way his lungs were burning. 

Another set of arms came and joined Sirius and Lily, sliding around his shoulders. “Come on, Remus, breathe. In, two, three, four, out, two, three, four.” Caradoc’s voice was low and soothing, and Remus tried to listen, gulping in air and gasping it back out until eventually air started flowing smoother, more solidly. 

After minutes, hours, possibly weeks, Remus pried his eyes open and found all of his friends crouched around him, a protective ring while he got himself together. He was hit with an overwhelming sense of love for these people that almost surpassed his lingering sense of guilt. Swallowing thickly, he shook off the hands that were still holding him tightly and stood back up. He wasn’t entirely certain when he had landed on the ground, which left him feeling almost as shaky as the panic had in the first place, but he shoved the feeling as far down as he could make it go. They didn’t have time for him to have fallen apart once, he certainly wasn’t going to let it happen a second time. 

“Thank you,” Remus nodded, hoping the rest was implied. 

The rest of the group clambered to their feet and no one said anything about his brief breakdown, much to both his embarrassment and his great relief. Sirius pressed against his side as soon as they were all standing again, and Remus wasn’t sure whose comfort it was for, so he didn’t say anything, just threaded their fingers together and started walking, hoping everyone was following him, because he wasn’t stopping again until their friends were safe. 

They walked the entire way there in grim silence, the only sound the scuffle of dust, dirt and rock beneath worn shoes. 

As they approached the gate Remus noticed that the lock was back in place, even though they were within Malfoy’s Magical Menagerie’s operating hours. There was a crude hand painted sign tied to the gate with a bit of frayed twine that read **CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE** , and Remus kicked the gate, letting the pain ground him. 

“Fuck,” he hissed, glaring. “Can any of you pick that?” 

They all stopped, as one mass of people, like Remus had cut the string pulling them forwards with that single question. 

“We need Gideon for that,” Caradoc answered, sounding pained, voice barely more than a hiss of air as his shoulders slumped. 

For a moment Remus felt the panic start welling up again, making his hands shake and his breathing tighten, but he bit his lip hard, to keep the gasp that was threatening to break free from escaping, and the pain centered him. 

“Close your eyes,” Sirius whispered in his ear, breath tickling the side of his neck. Remus did as he was told, hoping that it would finish grounding him so he could get his head back in order and they could start coming up with a new plan. 

“Good, now imagine that lock slowly crumbling to dust. Just, you know, imagine it really hard.” 

“Wait, what?” Remus hissed, then his breath caught. “Oh!” 

“Knew you’d get there,” Sirius said lowly, pressing a kiss to the side of Remus’ neck, just behind his ear, before withdrawing far enough that Remus couldn’t feel him anymore. 

Eyes still closed, Remus drew up the image of the gate he knew he was standing in front of and slowly imagined the lock deteriorating. First it rusted, then the rust started to flake, and finally the entire thing just crumbled apart. As he pictured this happening, he sort of at the image until he felt it sort of burst out, like letting go of a too long held breath. 

“Holy fuck,” Lily gasped, and Remus took that as his cue to open his eyes again. 

The gate swung freely, crushing the pile of rust colored dust into the dirt at their feet as it passed over top. 

“A bit theatrical, but it got the job done,” Sirius said, and Remus could hear the laughter he was just managing to contain.

He bit back a retort about Sirius doing a better job, both because this wasn’t the time and because he was rather sure that Sirius _could_ do a better job and he wasn’t sure if he could be offended at being asked, or grateful for the practice. He let it go. 

“Kingsley was in the room with their food stores, I’m assuming that’s where you got the food the first night, Caradoc. He was unconscious and I couldn’t lift him.” Remus said it all in a rush, knowing that if he didn’t get the words out quickly he would never be able to. 

“Fabian, Gideon and James were all still in the small office towards the front of the west side of the complex. They’re probably closer,” he continued, not looking at any of his friends, focused just inside the gates. 

“We’ll go there first,” Lily said, voice tight. She didn’t say that there was a good chance that not everyone was still alive, and three was always better than one. Remus would have argued if she had said it, not because he loved any of his friends any less, but he owed his life to Kingsley, and Lily knew it. 

“Why don’t you and Sirius see if you can get Kingsley and then head towards the exhibits and see if you can get us some reinforcements.” 

Remus nodded his thanks and hoped he could pass it off as agreement. If Lily suggested it and not him the others would go along with it. 

“He’ll be fine,” Dorcas offered quietly as she passed Remus. “Kingsley’s tough. It’ll be okay.” 

Remus swallowed thickly, aware that he hadn’t fooled anyone, and gave Dorcas a tight smile. “Let’s get moving.” 

Caradoc was the only one who nodded at him, clapping Remus on the shoulder on the way past, and then they were moving, marching across the line between safety and battle, line drawn in the sand by the shadow of a rusty iron gate. 

Sirius and Remus veered almost immediately, leaving the rest of the group silently. 

There were only a few buildings between the gate and where he had left Kingsley, and Remus hurried them along as much as he could while still moving silently between the buildings. He could barely breathe around the fear that was slowly sliding its way up his spine, making his hands shake and the creeping heat of the day seem like not enough. He loved all of his friends, but he had been with Kingsley since he was seven years old, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to handle if something happened to him. 

Heavy footsteps had them ducking into an unlocked doorway. Sirius put himself between Remus and the door, and Remus briefly wondered if Sirius thought he was being subtle about it, but decided not to ask. 

The instant he couldn’t hear the footsteps anymore Remus uncurled himself from where he had been crouched, hiding behind an empty set of shelves, and darted for the door. 

Sirius’ arm came out and caught him around the waist. “Hold on there, let’s give them a minute and make sure it’s actually clear.” 

“There isn’t time for that!” Remus hissed, struggling a little against the grip, despite knowing that Sirius was right. 

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Sirius asked slowly, his voice barely more than a hiss of air against the side of Remus’ face, brushing his cheek on its way to dissipating into the stillness around them. A stillness that Remus wanted to shatter, violently, but he held himself in check. 

“More than anything,” Remus answered tersely, wishing they could just be quiet and listen for footsteps, rather than continuing to waste time not knowing if it was safe. 

The arm still around his midsection tensed slightly, and Remus actually stopped struggling, and turned to face Sirius. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.” The _I’m worried_ went unsaid. 

“When...” Sirius trailed off, then squared his shoulders up and nodded sharply to something Remus hadn’t followed. “When I kissed you earlier, was I overstepping? Am I intruding on something between you and Kingsley?” 

If Remus hadn’t been so worried he would have laughed, but as it was he huffed out a tight burst of air, and squeezed Sirius’ arm where it was still holding on. “No, not like that. Kingsley basically raised me. He’s family.” 

At his words Sirius finally dropped his arm. “My family sold me to this place,” he said softly, shaking his head. “Also, they’re somewhat incestuous,” he added, eyes distant, nose crinkled up. 

Remus wanted to say something, anything, to take away the haunted look in Sirius’ eyes, but he couldn’t find the words. 

“Come on, then, it sounds clear,” Sirius said, effectively ending the conversation. 

They slipped back outside and continued to the small storage space that Remus had left Kingsley in. Remus flung open the door, ignoring the way that it groaned, and rushed inside. The room was still a mess, shelves toppled over, stores of food spilled out everywhere, and a trail of blood leading away from the largest part of the mess and heading towards a small door in the back. 

“Fuck,” Remus hissed, stumbling towards the wooden door, eyes on the blood, fearing how much it looked like something had been dragged. When he got to the door it was locked, and without even pausing he closed his eyes and pictured it burning, pushing as hard as he could, letting the image leave his head and shove forward. The door burst into flames, crackling and spitting before collapsing inward. 

A line of dirt around the edges of the building suddenly burst outward and there was a half-meter wide moat of water surrounding the cement floor and metal shelves. 

“Probably don’t want that fire destroying the food,” Sirius shrugged, raising an eyebrow at Remus, who just growled back and shoved his way through the still burning doorway, little pops of embers flitting at him. He swatted them away and kept going. 

The door opened onto a small alleyway behind the building, barely wide enough for Remus to squeeze into without taking the skin off his arms. Angling his bad shoulder away from the rough walls he was pressed against, he headed towards the burst of light he saw down at the end of the building. 

There was no more blood for him to follow, the dark earth having soaked it up, and he felt his head start spinning again. 

“Kingsley!” he shouted, no longer caring who might hear him. “Kingsley!” 

A hand clamped down over his mouth, and Remus struggled, trying to break free of the grip. 

“Do you want to get us all killed?” Sirius hissed, dragging Remus back into the storage room, where most of the fire had burned itself out without anything to consume besides the door, which was now just a pile of ash that they kicked into the small moat as they tumbled back inside. 

Finally, Remus slammed backwards knocking Sirius off of him. “Let me go. I need to find him!” 

“We will, Remus. One way or the other, we will. But either he’s safe and hiding right now, or they have him. Either way, the best thing we can do for him is gather our army and put an end to this.” 

Slumping, Remus swiped at his face, but didn’t say anything, not even to dispute the term army for what was meant to be more of an option. He gave himself a slow count to five just to breathe, then nodded once, to himself, and turned, heading back out the way they had come, out into the open, avoiding the little alley. He knew if he went back out that way, he wouldn’t be able to avoid looking for Kingsley, and Sirius was right, even if he couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud just yet. 

“Will you be able to give me enough detail on what they look like that I can change them back?” Remus asked, thinking about the logistics of this for the first time as they jogged towards the aviary where they had first met. 

Sirius was quiet for a minute, then grinned, a sharp-edged thing tossed casually at Remus, slicing away what little defenses he had left. 

Stooping down, Sirius scooped up a large chunk of rock that was half embedded in the ground, picking up his pace to catch up with Remus quickly. “I’ll do better than that,” he smirked, not bothering to elaborate. Remus didn’t ask, just trusted him to do what he needed to do so they could end this. 

The aviary was unlocked when they got there, and all the people were awake, plodding listlessly from side to side in their cages. 

Remus and Sirius skidded to a stop in front of the first cage where a man slightly older than Remus was leaning against the bars, encompassing the sallow look of someone who had started life out slightly stocky but had withered. 

Addressing the entire room, Remus lifted his head and called out, “We’re here to set you free. This place needs to end. Anyone who wants to stand with us is welcome, but no one is beholden to us for their freedom. If you don’t want to be a part of this fight just go. Anyone who wants to join us, come with me.” 

There was a clamor as every cage creaked and groaned while their inhabitants spun around to see who was addressing them. 

One woman, about halfway down the room, called back, “Why should we believe you?” 

Remus, shaking from adrenaline, flashed a tight smile. “Believe me or don’t, it doesn’t much matter. We’ll set you free either way.” 

A hand clapped down on his shoulder, and Remus whirled around to find Sirius, holding out a small figuring of a bird, scarlet and orange with bright yellow eyes. He pointed to the first cage and suddenly Remus understood. Sirius was using his magic to make models of the birds out of the rock he had brought so Remus could see them as well. It was brilliant, and Remus hitched up on his toes to give Sirius a short kiss in gratitude, before he focused on the figuring and pictured it becoming the man he saw before him. 

The gasps of the cages nearby were enough to tell Remus he had succeeded. He didn’t even pause, just handed the figure back to Sirius and turned his attention to the lock, which he sent melting away while Sirius made the next model. 

They worked their way through the entire room until every last captive was once again human and all milling around the aviary looking lost and frightened. 

“Okay,” Remus said as they popped open the last cage. “Let’s move on to the next exhibit.” 

“Wait,” a gravelly voice called out. 

Remus pulled up and waited, itching to keep moving, but unable to just ignore the people he had helped rescue. 

A man of indeterminate age, scarred and craggy, eyes wide and flitting about the room as if unable to rest, hobbled up to Remus and Sirius, flashing a wide, feral looking grin, all crooked teeth and venom. “I can help. You leave the locks to me.” 

“You sure?” Remus asked, already starting to move again, heading towards the next building. 

“I was City Guard before I ended up in this place, and I should still have enough connections to have the owners and their friends spend the rest of the lives in Azkaban Penitentiary. I want to help.” 

“I can help, too,” a young woman chimed in, face pale but determined. “If you were City Guard go get help, let me handle the locks.” 

“Are you sure?” 

She didn’t look sure at all, but she nodded anyway. “My husband is also City Guard, and I was training to be before they caught me here. Alice Longbottom,” she held out her hand like they weren’t in the middle of liberating the entire source of income of one of the richest families in the North. 

“Frank’s wife?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I was looking for you. That’s how I ended up here. Moody.” 

“Thank you,” Alice said softly, blinking hard. “But we’ll do this later. Go. Get the guard. We’ll do what we can here.” 

Moody nodded once, sharply, and turned, hobbling quickly towards the gate. 

“We’ll go with him, make sure he makes it,” a few people volunteered, and Remus found himself nodding in agreement before he could even process what had just happened. 

Bodies scattered in all directions, but Alice stuck close. 

“Are you sure you want to help?” Remus asked her, careful to give her the choice. 

“They took me from my husband. They took all of us from someone. I’m sure.” 

“Then come on,” Sirius answered, as he flung open the door to the next building. “I’m Sirius,” he added, then waved a hand in Remus’ direction. “And that’s Remus. Sorry we don’t have time for better introductions, but they have his friends.” 

“Our friends,” Remus insisted, holding out his hand for the next model. 

They worked in silence, moving from building to building, always giving the newly released prisoners the same choice, to leave or to stand with them. There wasn’t time for more conversation than that. 

Moving as quickly as they could they had liberated nearly seventy people, and there was soon a crowd of nearly forty people milling about outside the exhibit buildings, waiting for Remus and Sirius to emerge with the latest group of newly again human rescues. 

Remus wasn’t sure if it had been minutes or hours, but from the way the sun had moved across the sky it was probably closer to hours, and he was starting to worry about what had happened to Lily, Caradoc, Marlene and Dorcas, afraid that they had been captured as well. 

Some of the newly freed had fled as soon as they were human again, but most had stayed, and Remus was watching them with hope battling for dominance over the fear for the first time since they got caught. 

“Is that everyone?” Alice asked, eyes wide, looking around at the gathered people. 

“I have no idea,” Remus answered. “But we’ll make a more thorough inspection after we’ve removed the people in charge and can take our time.” 

“Well then let’s get on that,” Alice said, face determined, mouth a fine line across her face, eyes narrowed. 

Remus nodded at her and began casting about trying to see if he could find a vantage point to survey the grounds and figure out where the most likely place to find the people in charge would be. 

“This way,” Sirius said softly, grabbing his elbow. 

Turning to follow, Remus was expecting Sirius to point him towards high ground, not start marching him off down the winding pathways between the buildings, heading for the other side of the compound. 

“Where are we going?” Remus hissed, trying to keep his voice down so that the group of former prisoners following them didn’t ask too many questions that he couldn’t answer. 

“I know where the offices are,” Sirius answered, carefully not looking at Remus. 

That made Remus freeze up temporarily, every muscle going tense. “How do you know that?” 

Sirius sighed, but kept walking, and Remus, who didn’t see any choices, kept following. 

“Because Malfoy is married to my cousin. My brother and I grew up playing here before I knew what it was.” 

“Well, that’s...” Remus trailed off, not sure what to say to that. 

Sirius seemed to understand anyway, though, because he shrugged and through a tight, lopsided smile over his shoulder. “Yeah, it really is.” 

They met with no resistance as they traversed the compound, and Remus wasn’t sure if it was because they were extremely lucky, or if their opposition had pulled back their resources at the sight of that many people heading their way. 

“That’s the main office,” Sirius said, finally, pointing to a small building with an ornate gate across the door, both of which Remus assumed were locked. 

“Open it,” Remus growled. “If I do it, I’m going to burn the place down and our friends might be in there.” 

“I’ve got it,” Alice said, stepping forward and closing her eyes. The gate started to glow and shiver and then it suddenly flew across the walkway, a couple of people diving to get out of the way. “Oops,” she muttered, cheeks turning slightly pink. “Sorry about that, I’m much better with smaller objects.” 

“How did you do that?” Sirius gawked. 

“I never got the hang of that shape shifting thing you guys do, but I’m pretty good at moving things around from a distance,” Alice shrugged, looking slightly smug. 

“Can you get the door as well?” Remus asked, waving his hands at the gathered forces behind them, indicating that they should clear out of the way, just in case. 

A moment later and the door flew off its hinges, crashing into the side of the opposing building kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. 

Before they could make a move to swarm inside, however, a woman came striding out. Remus recognized her as the same woman who had captured Gideon and Fabian earlier, along with James. 

“Well, well, well,” she purred, not looking at Remus, but at Sirius. “Come to play, little cousin?” 

“Bellatrix,” he spat, squaring his shoulders and not so subtly putting himself between her and Remus. “I should have known you had something to do with this. You always did like watching people suffer.” 

“People. What people? I don’t see any people here, cousin, just the usual riff-raff that stumbles up from the South. Unable to even feed themselves. Unworthy of our resources. Nothing but animals.” 

“What have you done with my friends?” Remus demanded, stepping up so he was shoulder to shoulder with Sirius, breathing jagged, stuttering with adrenaline. 

“Friends? Oh, you mean the intruders? I’ve taken care of them; don’t you worry your mangy little head about that, they’re mine now.” She cackled, a burbling bubble of a laugh that burst out and curled around them, insidious and grating. 

Just then Remus spotted a flicker of red out of the corner of his eye and when he glanced in that direction he spotted Lily with Moody of all people, and a small contingent of City Guards, their gleaming uniforms catching the light and making Remus grin. 

“Somehow, I don’t think you’ll be keeping them,” Remus said, leaning into Sirius. 

“You think just because you have all these scared bodies behind you, I can’t put an end to this any time?” Bellatrix asked, sneering at Remus as two men appeared behind her. 

“The Lestrange’s, Bellatrix?” Sirius snorted. “And here I thought you couldn’t get any crazier.” 

That burst of red popped through the crowd again, closer this time, but Remus refused to turn and look, not wanting to give Lily away. He just hoped that Moody had managed to convince enough of the City Guard to be of use. 

“Be careful, little cousin,” she crooned. “The rest of the family is a lot more like me than like you. You’ll get there some day.” 

Sirius paled, but held his ground, and Remus reached down, lacing their fingers together and squeezing, hard, until Sirius shuddered and squared up again. 

“And where’s the rest of this little party?” Sirius asked, squeezing Remus’ hand so hard that Remus could feel the little bones shifting and grating, but he didn’t say anything, just let Sirius hold on. “Where’s Narcissa and Malfoy?” 

“Like they’d waste their time with the likes of you. I’m here because you’re going to be _so much_ fun to play with.” 

“You’re under arrest!” a voice called out from the back of the crowd. 

Bellatrix took a small step backwards and Remus felt himself smile a little bit, until a very blond man and woman came out from the office and stood beside her. 

“I called the City Guard,” the man sneered, words dripping with condescension. 

“You’re no fun, Lucius,” Bellatrix sighed, looking almost like she was pouting. 

For a moment Remus tensed, afraid that they would actually be arrested for trespassing, but then Moody broke through the crowd, a City Guard badge pinned to his tattered clothes. He flashed a grin at the gathering in the doorway, more a baring of teeth than anything, and shook his head. 

“Not them, you,” he called, pointing at Lucius in particular. “All of you. You’re under arrest for seventy counts of unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, fraud, and whatever else we find when we go through your books. Now stand down!” 

Bellatrix tried to run, but the entire mob of former prisoners swarmed the office and suddenly they were all surrounded. The Lestrange brothers were struggling and raging, but they were soon carted off. Lucius glared at them all, but put up no struggle, maintaining an air of dignity even as he was manacled and dragged away. 

The blond woman, who Remus assumed was the Narcissa Sirius had asked about, looked resigned, and still had said nothing, but she was the last to be detained, and as one of the City Guard was restraining her arms behind her back Remus stalked up. “Where are my friends?” he hissed, leaning down into her face, watching as her eyes flickered to him, but didn’t show any emotion beyond that. 

“They’re in the large safe at the back of the office. The code is on a slip of paper in the trick drawer in the desk. They should be mostly unharmed, except for the one that Rabastan dragged in, but no one did him any more harm than we found him with.” 

Startled, Remus gave her a tight nod. “Thank you,” he said softly, before turning and rushing into the office, hoping that she was correct, followed by Lily, Caradoc, Marlene and Dorcas. 

“What happened to you guys?” he asked, as he started digging through the desk looking for the combination. 

“We went to where you said you had left the others, but the building was mostly rubble,” Lily said, as she shifted all the papers off the desk into a stack to be gone through later. 

“We spent a few hours trying to track where everyone had gone, but we were intercepted by the City Guard who said they were here to arrest the owners, so we just tagged along with them,” Marlene added from where she was leaning against the wall. The desk wasn’t actually large enough for all of them to search through, and no one was willing to get in Remus’ way, which left him and Sirius examining the furniture mostly by themselves. 

It took a few minutes of poking and prodding before Sirius found the trick drawer in the desk, but there, inside, just where Narcissa had said it would be, was the combination for the safe. 

Punching it in, Remus held his breath as the door swung open to reveal all of his friends, bound, but alert. Kingsley was listing to the side in an alarming way, but his eyes were open and they locked on Remus, coherent, if severely injured. 

Closing his eyes, Remus pictured the ropes crumbling away to dust, and pushed. When he opened his eyes again Caradoc was pulling Fabian into a kiss, Gideon wincing, but smiling beside them. James slowly stood, looking around for Lily in a way that had Remus shaking his head. When he spotted her, though, he simply smiled, and ducked his head, running a hand through his hair and flushing. 

Kingsley, however, wasn’t moving. 

“Fuck,” Remus hissed, dropping to his knees. “Kingsley, what –” 

“My legs,” Kingsley cut him off, sounding pained. “I can’t feel them.” 

Everyone pulled up short at that. Remus nearly stopped breathing, and only kept himself upright with the help of the arm that Sirius had slid around his waist to support him. 

“What happened to Kingsley?” Lily hissed, looking like she wanted to march over there and start poking at him immediately to see if her limited healing knowledge could fix the situation, but James’ arm around her shoulders held her back. 

“The explosion,” Remus said, softly, trying not to panic again, at least where Kingsley could see him. “It knocked a shelf over onto him, and I couldn’t lift it.” 

“That was one of the brothers,” Fabian said, leaning into Caradoc and watching Kingsley with his eyes narrowed. “He shot at Caradoc, missed and hit a generator. The little one – Peter was it? – got caught in the blast, too. No one saw him come back out. But that’s how we got caught, trying to escape the building as it came down.” 

Remus was only half listening, mostly hoping against all hope that Kingsley would suddenly get up. 

“You’re going to have to leave me behind,” Kingsley cut in gently, leaning heavily onto his left arm, but other than that not moving at all. “I won’t be able to keep up if I can’t walk.” 

“Then we’re not going anywhere,” Remus replied, as Caradoc let go of Fabian and came over to scoop Kingsley up off the ground. When Kingsley didn’t even wince Remus knew it was bad, possibly permanent, but he didn’t say anything. 

“Actually,” Sirius cut in, looking sheepish. “Now that the owners are in jail, this place might actually be mine, since it was owned by family and all. If not I’m sure we can fudge the paperwork so that it can be mine.” 

“And how does that help us?” Caradoc growled, eyes narrowed at Sirius. 

“Well, there’s a lot of space, a working greenhouse and access to clean water. We could turn it into a shelter. A proper one. No one would have to go anywhere.” And then, without bothering to let go of Remus, Sirius focused his attention on the heavy cushioned chair that sat behind the desk. With a small pop it was suddenly wider and instead of legs had developed wheels. 

Wide-eyed, Caradoc set Kingsley down in the chair and grabbed the back, wheeling him forward. 

“We could just stay?” Remus asked, looking up at Sirius, afraid to hope. 

“We are staying,” Sirius said, firmly, looking around at the rest of them. “At the very least until everyone is healthy and healed again. We can come up with alternate arrangements later, if anyone wishes.” 

When Kingsley nodded and tried to smile Remus felt the bands around his chest loosen for the first time since they had crossed the border days ago. He flung his arms around Sirius and kissed him, in relief, in thanks, and mostly just because he wanted to and finally could. 

A throat cleared behind him, and Remus broke away reluctantly to find Moody standing in the doorway looking embarrassed. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said gruffly, but his small smirk betrayed him. “But there’s the question of what to do with all the assets, and all the newly freed prisoners, now that Malfoy and his lot are gone.” 

“We’re confiscating everything,” James said, grinning. 

“I’m all for that,” Moody shrugged, “but I’m not sure that there is any way to properly do that now that the City Guard are officially involved.” 

“I’m family,” Sirius shrugged. “I’m sure we can come up with something.” 

“Oh, are you the cousin the crazy one was raving about?” Moody chuckled. “Yeah, we can probably make something stick, in that case. Now, what to do with the people?” 

“They can stay,” Remus said without the permission of his brain. 

Everyone turned to stare at him, but Lily grinned, and Marlene laughed and slung her arm around Dorcas. 

“We can partition buildings off into small rooms and anyone who doesn’t have someplace to go is welcome to stay, for a day, a week, forever, whatever they need.” 

“Why don’t you two go pass along that information,” Lily said, giving Remus a push, which dislodged him, finally, from Sirius’ grip. “I’ll see what we can do about Kingsley,” she added, softer, giving Remus a tight smile that did nothing to make him feel better. 

Slowly, clumsily, Kingsley wheeled himself over to Remus, looking winded from just those few meters. “You know you don’t have to stay just because of me. Please don’t stay just because of me.” 

Remus dropped into a crouch so he could look Kingsley in the face without making him have to crane up at Remus. “Kingsley, let’s start with the part where taking care of you is more important to me than moving on, and if you don’t know that by now, I’ve been doing something wrong. But,” he continued, cutting off Kingsley before he could start speaking, placing a hand on Kingsley’s arm and squeezing, smiling when Kingsley dropped his other hand over Remus’ and squeezed back. “Even if that weren’t the case, this is the best opportunity any of us have ever had. A place to stay, to grow our own food, drinkable water running just outside the grounds. _Electricity._ A chance to settle. Why would we pass this up?” 

“If you’re sure.” 

An arm slipped around Remus as Sirius dropped down beside him. “You’re his family, this is the best option. For everyone.” 

Caradoc sighed, but smiled as he wrapped Fabian up, and leaned against Gideon’s shoulder. “For once the damned bird is right, this is definitely the best option. Besides, we wouldn’t want to split the lovebirds up so soon, would we?” 

James snickered at the pun, and Lily whacked him on the arm, but she was grinning, too, so Remus just sighed and accepted that the name was going to stick. 

“It’s going to be a lot of work, turning this place into a safe space to live for all of us, but we came up North looking for work anyway, this is just a different kind,” Dorcas shrugged. 

“Besides, it might be nice to have a door to put between us and the rest of you,” Marlene added, smirking, her hand on Dorcas’ arse. 

Remus rolled his eyes, but he smiled, a real smile, and laced his fingers together with Sirius’, wondering how this strange man had managed to uproot their entire lives simply by existing, and feeling ever more grateful every moment that he had. 

“Well, then,” he said, standing up and wheeling Kingsley in front of him, Sirius clutching at his arm, and the rest of his friends following him outside into the sun. “Let’s get started. We have a lot of work to do.”


End file.
